A Shadowed Heart
by Riku54-Vincent's Demon
Summary: 2nd book of 'The Darkness Within'. Riku, Sora, and Kairi have to find out where theiur enemies have vanished too while int he process uncovering secrets that would rather be kept secret. They must seek what can not be sought according to this strange girl
1. The Light of Death

I got**_ REALLY _**tired of waiting so here, I hope you liek it and no, i doubt you'll understand it because you need Chapter Two first to understand it and I'm not giving you chapter Two until i have two reviews for this one. Srry but we'll have to make up for the ones that I needed for 'The Darkness Within'

And if you haven't read 'The Darkness Within' and just randomly clicked ont his liek i do a lot, go read it, please!

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KINGDOM HEARTS A Shadowed Heart

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This is the continuance of _Kingdom Hearts: The Darkness Within_. This book is number two of the _Shadow Journey_ chronicles. There is to be one more book of the _Shadow Journey_ chronicles. This book is rated T for language use, violence, and use of alcohol.

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Chapter One: The Light of Death

_I sometimes begin to think, was it really worth it? Was it really worth death to save my enemies from what we had all feared? Maybe, I think, that they might not be my enemies anymore, as I pass through death, I begin to see through the darkness of their hearts…I begin to see the light. The light which will save us all, but they must realize it for themselves before they can truly see what it can do. I know this for I am the one who fought the darkness along side my brother and my friends ten years ago…_

I looked out across Hollow Bastion. It was in ruins again, but it would be restored just like before and it would become known as Radiant Garden again, I knew this. I knew a lot of things about the future and what was coming. If I had been living, I would not have none these things, but as a spirit who has remained behind to help the others, I learned.

I had died ten years ago. On the day I went out into battle, I was killed brutally. My rivals, my enemies, fled that day. They were human, they were not Heartless, but they worked for the Heartless. That was what I had thought for a long while until I had opened my eyes to it all. I knew instantly that they were not working for the Heartless as they had fled the battlefield that day. They were…being controlled. We, as in, my friends and I, had not known. If we had, we would not have killed most of them.

I had watched with my sword drawn. It had been covered in blood and was dripping onto the torn and slashed earth. Just as I was about to turn, the ground shook beneath me. I had fallen on my knees, I remember. My mind flashed to where this dark figure ripped loose from it's prison underneath the depths of Radiant Garden. I saw it's long, razor sharp claws rip and tear the earth away as it rose.

The group of five that I had fought, who had told me everything, we right in the beast's path. I could hear the beast, I could understand it. It was yelling, screeching that it wanted revenge. It had to kill for that revenge and it wanted a heart. I stood up from where I kneeled over and drug my sword's tip on the broken ground as I raced like lightning towards my friends.

I remembered the scene like it was yesterday. I remember how I had stood in front of the giant black beast and looked it straight in it's horrible red eyes and shouted, "Damn you back to your wretched grave you beast!" In that instant I had raised my sword as it's giant claws came rushing towards me. I could hear it screaming that it wanted my blood spilt, my heart taken. I didn't care because I knew what I was doing. I could here my brother yelling for me to come back, I could sense the darkness in his heart wanting to come at the beast and kill it as I plunged my sword into it's throat.

I shut my eyes tightly as the last vision of my life came to me. I had killed the dark being, yes, but I had not lived. It's claws tore into my side and stomach, ripping through them like white-hot knives. I can still hear myself scream in pain as I was slung into one of the chunks of upturned earth. I had not died instantly either. Instead I remained alive for ten minutes, bleeding and dying.

I had lived to watch the five I had saved give me a horrified look before vanishing into the darkness. I had seen my brother and friends come up to me. I can still remember his voice as he cried for me as I lay there against the broken earth, dying. I was suffering and I remember telling him that it was all over for now. I remember telling him that the darkness, the shadows, were gone. I can't remember anything after that.

So here I am now, standing in Hollow Bastion in the very spot where I had been killed. I wasn't standing fully on my feet as I made my way through the ruins, looking at the people in front of me. They did not see me yet, but I saw them. I was still carrying my sword that was dripping with blood, but the blood was black. I was a ghost, a spirit, stuck in this life until my final death brought me peace.

I went up to the people in front of me as I sensed a very angry presence only a few hundred yards off, but I didn't turn to look. Instead, I made myself solid and able to be seen. I had somehow learned how to do this in the years that past, but I never knew how, it had just happened one day.

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Okay, no it's not in this gril's point of view and nor is the rest of the story with 'I'. It is only like this so you can understand why she is like this and I WILL NOT give a name to anybody who requests one (had it happen before) because and ONLY because it comes up in the second chapter. The second chapter is just like all the other chapters on 'The Darkness Within'. Yes I have to full chapter typed up and ready to go on the documents thing, but I won't ubmit it until I get two reveiws.

-Riku54


	2. A New Beginning

STOP TORTURING ME! I'm sitting here ont he internet thinking 'Should i submit it or not?' 'Should I' "no" 'Yes" 'NO'' YES' So here! Grumbles about how writing things makes me want to submit it. Maybe I should just stop writing until I get those 2 reveiews...

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Chapter Two: A New Beginning

Cloud stared across the battlefield. His eyes were narrowed with anger as he saw Sephiroth, his long-time enemy had returned. He started his motorcycle up again and raced off towards Sephiroth, forgetting about Tifa and the others who were waiting just yards away. He didn't even glance to where Sora, Riku, and Axel stood along with Arkath. Cloud knew he had to finish the fight before he began to search all over again for Sephiroth, his evil dark side.

Meanwhile Riku was looking at Sephiroth for a split of a second before turning to Sora and sighing, "Maybe our part isn't over after all. This may be Cloud's battle, but who's to say that Sephiroth won't stir up trouble?"

Sora nodded and looked at Riku, "I'm just glad to be back."

"Sooo...What did it feel like dying?" Riku asked.

"Painful." was Sora's smart reply making Riku laugh slightly.

Riku heard footsteps coming their way and turned to see Kairi coming up to them, a look of pure joy on her face. She raced up to Sora and threw her arms around his neck and hugged him, "I'm so glad you're alright!" she said happily. After hugging Sora, she turned to Riku and gave him a hug, "I thought you were dead, too."

"So did I, but apparently not. Or maybe...I really was but never knew it." Riku added after a short pause as Kairi released him.

Kairi nodded, not going deeper into the subject. Instead she turned to Axel and said, "Thank you, Axel."

Axel blinked and turned to look at Kairi, asking, "For what?"

"For helping us out." Kairi said, smiling,

"You're welcome I guess." Was Axel's reply before turning to Arkath. He was about to speak when something caught his eye. Blinking, Axel turned swiftly around, only to see the shadow of something vanishing.

"What was that?" Axel asked aloud.

Everyone turned to look at him and followed his gaze, but nothing was there except dust and debris. "What was where?" Kairi asked him.

"I could have sworn I just saw something, over there, but it's gone now." Axel pointed to a pile of broken and ground rock. Riku blinked, but he, like everyone else, didn't see anything.

Riku just shrugged at looked at the spot where Xemnas had been. He bent down and grabbed the Destructor. It had black electricity going around it. He looked at Sora and then held out the Keyblade. "This is yours whether you want it or not." Sora turned to Riku and saw the Destructor. He blinked and then reached out hesitantly and took the dark Keyblade. As his fingers touched it, the blade vanished, just as Sora had wanted.

Riku's Soul Eater and Way to Dawn vanished and he turned to look towards Cloud, who had almost reached Sephiroth. Just as Cloud reached Sephiroth, Sephiroth vanished. Riku sensed Cloud's anger and rage as it flooded through the air. Riku felt a twinge of sorrow for Cloud. He knew that Cloud had searched and searched for Sephiroth for so long only to have him vanish when he had gotten so close to finishing the battle.

"Well what ever it was, I'm sure it was nothing, but are you going to go back to Destiny Island?" Sora asked, jerking Riku from his thoughts. He looked up and saw Sora was addressing him and only him. Riku wondered if Sora knew Kairi wanted to hurry up and go home.

"Well…um…yeah I guess." Riku told them, his mind still set on everything else. He hadn't really thought about what would happen after they had killed Xemnas. Riku looked at his friends and smiled weakly, showing that he was unsure, but the others agreed with him anyway. "But how are we supposed to get back?" he asked them.

"You're not." came a female voice behind them. Everyone, including Axel and Arkath turned around to see a girl come up to them. She had brown hair that reached to her shoulders. Her blue eyes were full of understanding. She wore a blue shirt that stretched tight over her and cut off at her elbows with the sleeves. She wore a black pair of pants that also stretched tight over her, but it allowed her to have better mobility. Everyone saw the sword in her hand and then gun on her side. There were black straps going over her upper part of her body, hooking to a sheath on her back. She looked about twenty-four, much older than everyone else except maybe Axel and Arkath. "You're journey is yet to be finished, you know."

"Who are you?" Riku asked her, blinking. He sense something was different about this girl, but he didn't know what, but it felt as if…as if she wasn't human.

"My name is of no importance. What matters is, is that you continue your journey. For this one is a difficult. You must seek what can not be sought." The woman's voice was soft yet knowing. She reached them within a matter of seconds. Riku noticed that her eyes were pinned on him as she spoke. It was like she was telling him and him alone this. Her words confused Riku, he didn't know what she meant by 'You must seek what can not be sought'.

"What do you mean?" Sora asked, approaching her.

The girl's eyes switched to land on Sora. Her eyes flashed as she spoke once again, "You will not understand until you begin to seek what can not be sought. You must find it or the worlds as you know them will vanish."

"Aurithia?" came a quite voice. Riku glanced towards Arkath who was looking at the girl with wide eyes. "You-"

The girl turned to him, her brown hair falling in her face as she told him, "I know brother, I am here, but they mustn't know how or why, understand?"

Riku blinked, what was she talking about? What did she mean? Riku saw arkath nod and he was about to ask aurithia what she meant when the roar of Cloud's motorcycle reached his ears. He turned around to see Cloud stop right in front of their little group and growled, "Tell Tifa that I'm going to look for Sephiroth if she asks. And tell her I'll return, okay?" he asked them. Riku nodded and noticed that Aurithia or Arkath hadn't turned to face Cloud, instead they were talking in low voices. Riku sensed that thegirl had a very deep and dark secret as he heard pieces of their conversation, but he only found out that they were brothr and sister.

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	3. Preparing for the Journey

Oh guys! Please forgive me! I am so sorry everyone! I will update this as soon as possible! i ahve just been to busy trying to write other things! I am a thousand times sorry!

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Chapter Three: Preparing for the Journey

The following hour, Riku hadn't gotten any answers from Aurithia or Arkath so he let it drop. They were now huddled in Merlin's house, which Merlin had fixed up after the break in. Riku's mind had wandered again as he thought about the events that had happened just a few hours before. Sora, his best friend, had become someone that Riku didn't really know. Sora's heart had plunged into darkness, and with him being the Keyblade wielder, it had changed him. Riku wasn't sure about many things at the moment. He knew for certain that Sora was back to being Sora, but was the darkness really gone?

He stared off into space as he thought about how he had opened himself up to darkness. Sora's experience had been totally different. Riku had become a puppet, he had let Ansem take over him, but in the end, Sora defeated Ansem, which helped Riku escape and he had become Sora's friend. But he had been sealed in Kingdom Hearts until he found a way out. Riku sighed heavily, the adventure wasn't over and now they had a new companion: Aurithia.

Riku wasn't sure what he thought about her yet either. He knew that he liked her in a way, but he still had that strange feeling that she wasn't human. It bugged him, but he didn't dare ask her anything because he might offend her. "Hey Riku, we're leaving in thirty minutes, you'd better hope that you're prepared. From what Aurithia is saying, it sounds pretty bad."

Riku looked up at Sora's voice and groaned inwardly, closing his eyes. Wasn't he aloud to rest any? His answer was given to him by Kairi, who responded, "And don't even thinking about going to sleep! We still need some supplies."

Riku's eyes shot open and he sighed again and nodded. He stood up from where he had been sitting and turned to Leon, "Hey Leon, you know where we can find a moogle anywhere?"

Leon glanced at Riku and said, "It might still be in the market place, you can go look but it could be hiding from the battle."

Riku nodded and headed for the doorway and walked out. The door had been busted door by Merlin and had yet to be replaced. As Riku walked outside, he saw the destruction the Nobodies and Organization XIII had caused. The walls and a few houses were broken and crumpled. He had to watch his step so that he didn't fall over anything as he stumbled down towards the market place. He yawned, feeling tired, but Riku was determined to stay awake.

He reached the market place within a matter of seconds and took in the destruction. The place where the moogle usually stayed was destroyed. "There's no moogle here…" Riku sighed and continued on through the rubble, looking for the little ball of fluff with a red pompom on its head. Riku spotted a little movements towards a broken cart that had smashed fruit all around it. It had once been a fruit but now Riku could see that it was a hiding place for the moogle.

"Um…moogle…are you under there?" Riku asked, unsure of how he should address a moogle.

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Sephiroth stood in the remains of Hollow Bastion, looking down on Merlin's house with anger. One of these days, he would be sure Cloud surrender to the darkness. His mako green eyes flashed as he hovered in the air for a moment and then vanished. Cloud had been searching for him for three years now, but had been unsuccessful to find him. Sephiroth, though, had caused destruction every time Cloud had gotten closer and closer to finding him. It was fun to watch Cloud struggle against the hardships that Sephiroth gave him.

Holding his Masamune, Sephiroth wondered what would Cloud do if he killed that girl…Aerith? Was that her name? Probably. Sephiroth knew exactly what would happen: Cloud would want to kill him even more. He grinned wickedly at that. Sephiroth would never perish by Cloud's blade or anyone else's.

He vanished after that, an evil plan forming in his mind.

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Riku didn't see any moogle anywhere, so what had been under there? He blinked, thinking that he should crawl under the rubble, but suddenly he jumped at a voice, "Kupo! Are you looking for me, kupo?"

Riku hit his head on the wood as he back away from the rubble and turned to look at the little flying moogle standing in front of him. Riku nodded, "Uh, yeah…I need some supplies."

"Kupo, you're out of luck. My stuff is in all this rubble, kupo," the moogle explained. Moogle looked at Riku and then, fluttering it's wings, glided away. Riku sighed heavily and shook his head. Oh well.

He headed back to Merlin's and found Leon and Cloud talking with one another, while Yuffie and Aerith (Aeris) were talking about something. Sora and Kairi were playing go-fish, and Axel, Arkath, and Aurithia were looking at something. They looked up when Riku came in. "The moogle lost all of his supplies."

Everyone sighed and shook their heads like Riku had done earlier. "I guess we can just get some rest now and then leave and get supplies along the way." Sora spoke up. Kairi looked at him sharply, but she did not speak. They needed supplies, but she guessed, there was no way of getting it now…Riku, on the other hand, seemed to agree with Sora on that. He was tired!

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Meanwhile, unknown to everyone else, a shadow lurked in the corners of Hollow Bastion, his red eyes flashing with anger. His plan had been destroyed! He grabbed Moogle as it came by, picking up things looking for its supplies. "KUPO!" the moogle squealed as it was picked up by it's pompom. "Kupo LET GO!"

The man rolled his eyes at the moogle and opened a dark portal and stepped into it and vanished. This moogle could be of some use to him if Riku, Sora, and Kairi were looking for some supplies…

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(Please, no questions about this. I couldn't help myself-okay?)

A man with crimson red eyes glared at the stone ground beneath his feet. He had long since noticed that a battle had gone on here, and by the looks of it-no one had died because there was no blood. He found that very strange as he picked his way through the rubble. His red cape trailed behind him as he looked up. Cloud was around here somewhere…

His red cape trailed along the ground, and his metal claw glinted in the sunlight. He narrowed his eyes at the sight of a motor bike. He stopped in front of it and stood deathly still, listening intently. He could hear Cloud's voice, he seemed to be talking with someone. He found out that Cloud was in a house. He stepped up to the door without the slightest care, he opened the door and what shocked him was that as soon as he opened the door, a girl jumped at him, yelling, "Vinnie!"

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Heh-heh. I couldn't resist the urge to put him in here! It was too tempting! (I've been searching for things about FINAL FANTASY VII: CIRISIS CORE & DIRGE OF CERBERUS for a while now and that is why-I'm obsessed with FFVII now...heh-heh


	4. A Dark Stranger

Chapter Four: A Dark Stranger

His red cape trailed along the ground, and his metal claw glinted in the sunlight. He narrowed his eyes at the sight of a motor bike. He stopped in front of it and stood deathly still, listening intently. He could hear Cloud's voice, he seemed to be talking with someone. He found out that Cloud was in a house. He stepped up to the door without the slightest care, he opened the door and what shocked him was that as soon as he opened the door, a girl jumped at him, yelling, "Vinnie!"

Riku stared at Yuffie as she hugged the dark, shadowed looking man who seemed emotionless as he pried the excited ninja off of him. As Riku looked at the man, he felt a sense of forbidding, something about the dark stranger unnerved him, and it wasn't just his appearance of bloody crimson eyes, a red cape that flowed like blood, the black leather suit, or metal arm that made the man seem so…inhuman. It was just the dark aura around him, the way he seemed so emotionless as he walked past Yuffie and straight to Cloud, who looked rather surprised.

Riku stayed silent as he watched Cloud's dark blue eyes flash, "Vincent? Why are you here?" Cloud asked. Riku could hear the confusion and shock in his voice.

The man who was now known as Vincent, blinked, glancing around him before responding, "It is because, from my understandings, you have been searching for Sephiroth, am I correct?"

Riku shivered at the man's cold, emotionless tone that was dark and hinted the evil within. Riku looked over at Sora and saw that Sora was staring wide-eyed at Vincent, while Kairi seemed to be hiding behind Sora. Aurithia and Arkath watched without emotion, but their eyes both showed knowing. Did they know something about the dark stranger named Vincent? Aerith, Tifa, and Yuffie were looking at Vincent and Cloud expectantly. It was clear that they knew Vincent, though Riku didn't know how. Leon had taken a few steps away from Vincent, but his expression did not change.

Cloud nodded, "That is true, but what do you want to tell me?"

"Sephiroth-he is a problem. I have not been here long, I admit. In fact, I have just arrived only moments ago. I see that a war has gone through this area. Anyway, Sephiroth has a plan to do something about you. We are unsure who he is working for, but it just so happens that Rufus picked up something about it somehow. We don't know. How I got here, was actually using one of Cid's rocket-it worked, though not in a way we planned, but at least I made it. Along with a few others. They are outside right now. We were wondering what you were doing, and so we all came. Actually, it was Marlene who dragged me along, but yes, they are waiting." Vincent replied, turning away from Cloud and ending the conversation.

Riku swore he heard Cloud laugh and he wondered why. He didn't have to wonder long because at that moment, the door flew open again to reveal a girl about seven. She was looking at the room for a moment before rushing up to Cloud, "Cloud!" she shouted joyfully. "Aunt Yuffie! Tifa!" Riku watched them all greet the girl, but he noticed Aerith looking at Marlene with a smile, but he had backed away from everyone and was in the shadows. He wondered why, but he never would get his answer because a sudden voice spoke up, "Riku, Sora, Kairi, we must be going!" Aurithia snapped.

Riku jumped at her tone and turned to face her. He hadn't expected here to sound so demanding of them considering he had just died and woke up again and Sora had just woken up from a nightmare,. None of them had had any sleep and here Aurithia was wanting to leave! Well…maybe he could sleep in the Gummi ship. That would be nice.

"Alright…" he sighed reluctantly, though he knew that they had to be on their way. Sora and Kairi stood up and walked over to him. Riku noticed that Vincent and the girl were looking at him as if something were wrong, but as they saw him looking, they turned away. He blinked, brushing it away.

Axel remained where he was standing, along with Arkath. Aurithia, seeing the trios confused looks, explained, "They are going to stay behind. Remember, we are unsure if Organization XIII has truly been destroyed. If they have not, they can cause much chaos with the data they have stolen from Merlin's computer."

Riku nodded, understanding as Aurithia began to lead them outside. As they exited Merlin's house, Riku noticed a few people standing outside, one was a big red dog with a XIII marked on his shoulder. He had one eye and as they past, he approached Riku and sat down, staring intently at him. Riku stopped and looked back at the dog, "What?" he asked.

The red dog dipped his head, "Oh it is nothing you should be concerned about. You just remind me of someone who is now dead," the dog responded with a kind voice.

Riku's eyes widened, "You can talk?"

"Why yes of course, but you must return to your friends, or you will be left behind," the dog responded with a small smile. Riku blinked and then turned to look back at Sora, Kiari, and Aurithia. They were quiet a ways ahead. He nodded to the dog and then dashed off.

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A dark figure stood up, a black hood hiding his face. He was at the way end of a long table that seated ten people. "We have a traitor in our midst," he hissed, his eyes glowing from under his hood. More people sat at the black table, hoods also hiding their face. The room was painted black and made of metal, making it feel very cold. Candles lit the room in a haunting glow, shadowing the place.

One figure, one that was towards the middle, also stood and spoke up, "Yes, and we must kill that traitor. How do you propose we do that?" she had an icy voice and sounded slightly curious. Her question made many of the hooded figures turn to look at her. Another figure stood up.

"With this," a gruff voice responded, taking out a pistol from his cloak pocket. There was a small, evil chuckle in the room as they imagined the traitor being shot to death by a little gun such as a pistol. It was small, but powerful.

"Also, we must plan out how we find the Keyblade Master and his friend, the Dark Keyblade wielder. Last time we targeted the Keyblade wielder. That was our mistake. I did not realize that he had such a strong heart, I was ignorant, I admit to you, my minions, but this time, I shall not make that same mistake. No, instead, I will use the one who has his blood coursing through his veins." The first one at the very end of the table said in a cold tone.

One stood up, slightly shorter than everyone else, "Do you mean you want to use the one who has Ansem's blood in his veins?"

"Yes, you idiot," a colder voice snapped. It was a man sitting next to the first hooded-figure who seemed to be the leader.

"Our plan will not fail."

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Sephiroth grinned as he approached the castle. His Mako green eyes flashed wickedly. He would take his plan into action very soon. But first he must find the alliances with the ones who hated the Keyblade Master. Approaching the castle, Sephiroth kicked open the doors, not bothering to make his appearance known to anyone.

When he entered the black-and-white castle, he noticed that it appeared empty. His sharp hearing, however, picked up sounds coming from a room very far off, maybe five or six floors up towards the top.

_First I must find the enemies to the Keyblade Master. Once that is done, I will make an alliance with them. I will help them kill that Sora kid, then they will help me get to Cloud. I will snuff out the light that was hardly there in Cloud, then my rein shall come._

"Hey!" a voice suddenly shouted. Sephiroth turned to see a cloak figure running towards him. "If you're going to come into this castle, you have to have a black cloak on! Not a black cape or suit!" the masked stranger snapped.

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes, but nodded, not wanting to start anything. The man nodded in turn and walked briskly over to a closet that just so happened to be close to the door in case something like this happened and took out a large black cloak and tossed it Sephiroth's say. Sephiroth caught it and glared at the man. He unstrapped the Masamune from his back and laid it on the floor. The man gave him a look before running out the doors. Obviously the man was not a resident of the castle. Sephiroth slipped the cloak on over his armor and suit. The black wing on his right shoulder was gone for the moment, which was a good thing-it would stand out too much. Then he took the Masamune and strapped it back onto his back. Then Sephiroth pulled the hood over his head so no-one would know it was him under the hood.

The one winged angel turned to the staircase, and began his short flight up the stairs. He was somehow able to skip five steps at a time, as if gliding over them as he made his way to where the voices were coming from. Within seconds, he reached the meeting room door and heard voices speaking.

Without knocking, Sephiroth opened the black door and was greeted by a black room light by candles. Eleven cloaked figures sat in chairs, well, actually the one at the far end of the table was standing. Every hooded-head turned to look his way.

"Who are you?" one person demanded, her voice sharp. "You're not aloud in our meeting room-get out!"

Sephiroth glared at the speaker, though he could not see her face. "I advise you to keep your mouth shut woman or you will end up just as all of my other enemies here do."

The cloaked man who was standing came up to Sephiroth, "Ignore her, she is of no importance, Sephiroth. I have been expecting you."

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow, "Have you now? Then you must know that I wish to help you kill the Keyblade Master in exchange for Cloud's submission?"

The hooded man nodded, "I see, though I do not know how we are supposed to help you get to Cloud."

"That is simple," Sephiroth mused, "make him mad, depressed, weaken him. He is too resistant for me to do anything at the moment. And without his submission, I cannot even begin to rule the worlds because he will stop me very step of the way, like he did last time."

"Hmm…alright, we can do that, I guess, but now you must know our plans for the Keyblade Master's destruction."


	5. A Haunting Dream

Chapter Five: A Haunting Dream

_The hooded man nodded, "I see, though I do not know how we are supposed to help you get to Cloud."_

"_That is simple," Sephiroth mused, "make him mad, depressed, weaken him. He is too resistant for me to do anything at the moment. And without his submission, I cannot even begin to rule the worlds because he will stop me very step of the way, like he did last time."_

"_Hmm…alright, we can do that, I guess, but now you must know our plans for the Keyblade Master's destruction."_

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Sora boarded the Gummi ship silently. He walked over to the back and sat down on the furthest seat. The Gummi ship had obviously been sent to them for this purpose, but Sora took no notice. He remained silent as he looked down at his hands. Everything came back to him. He had hurt all of his friends…he had hurt Riku, the one he had sworn to forgive. Kairi, he had betrayed her, but in the end, hadn't he destroyed the one man who had caused it all? Sora remember Aurithia saying that they weren't sure if Xemnas was dead or not. He hoped he was.

Sora didn't noticed Kairi sit down beside him as he continued to stare at his gloved hands. His normally shining blue eyes were clouded and distant with thought. "Sora?" Kairi said, looking at him with worry. Sora did not respond. He had not spoken to Kairi when they had gotten back to Merlin's, in fact he had not spoken ever since the battle had ended and they had met Aurithia. Sora now believed he knew how Riku had felt, but it wasn't quiet the same.

"Where are we going to?" a familiar voice spoke up. At the voice, Sora looked up and saw Cloud walking in the Gummi ship, followed by Donald and Goofy.

"Sora!" Donald said, along with Goofy. Both of his old friends came over to him. Sora watched in shock as Donald and Goofy gave him a hug.

"What are you guys doing here?" Sora asked, finally speaking. His voice did not display the shock, in fact, in was quite and surprisingly cold. He blinked, why did he sound like that? Donald and Goofy gave him a look.

"Gosh, aren't you happy to see us?" Goofy asked, looking at Sora with worried eyes.

Sora nodded, "Yeah! I-um.." Sora couldn't explain it, but he was saved by Aurithia, who spoke up for him, "Do not worry, Donald, Goofy-Sora cannot exactly sound any different for a few days. His heart was swallowed by the darkness for long hours, just enough to taint it to where the darkness will always reside in his heart,"

Everyone, including Cloud, who had sat down beside Riku, stared at Aurithia. "What?" Sora gasped, his voice choked with horror. Aurithia nodded, her face grim.

Sora looked away from everyone, "I don't want to think about that right now…" he said sourly and then looked up at Donald and Goofy, "So, what are you doing here?"

Goofy gave him his goofy grin and then replied, "Why Donald here said it was time ta go so that we could come with ya!"

Donald, meanwhile had looked over at Riku, who was staring out the window as the Gummi ship took off. Sora noticed the distrust in Donald's eyes, but ignored it. The few times that Donald had met Riku, Riku had been on the side of the darkness, but in the end, he had shut himself in Kingdom Hearts with King Mickey.

"Sora, Aurithia, Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy-I'm coming with you to help you. From what Vincent has explained in the best way possible, Sephiroth is out to get both of us-Sora and me." Cloud spoke up from where he was sitting beside Riku, also looking out the window, but he was looking out the windshield as they entered space.

Sora nodded, not exactly sure who Sephiroth was. Why would Sephiroth-Cloud's rival-come after him? He didn't know, but shrugged it off. He would worry about that later. "Why to next?" he asked, looking over at Aurithia who had sat down in the pilot's seat.

"We are going to a world you are very familiar with." Aurithia replied, not giving them a specific name.

Sora's eyebrows furrowed, "But where, exactly?"

"You shall see," Aurithia replied and then she answered no more as Sora continued to press her, but then dropped it. Instead, he turned to look at Donald and Goofy. He ignored Kairi, surprisingly.

"So, what were you guys doing that kept you from coming with me?" he asked. "And when did you get here?"

"Oh, um…well," Donald and Goofy looked at one another, "it's confidential. But we just got to Radiant Garden, otherwise known as Hollow Bastion, that's how you got this Gummi ship."

Sora blinked, "Oh…"

&&&

Cloud blinked. He had blocked everyone out of his mind and was now concentrating on where he should look for Sephiroth next. He did not know, but he knew that if he stayed with Sora, he would run into Sephiroth soon. Suddenly he heard someone muttering beside him. Cloud turned his head to see Riku leaned back in his chair, asleep. He was talking in his sleep quietly, but Cloud could hear him. "Go away…darkness is not the key…" Riku muttered.

Cloud stared at Riku. What the hell was the Dark Keyblade wielder dreaming? Apparently, Aurithia heard Riku too because she turned to look at Riku with hard, icy eyes. Cloud stared at the woman for a moment and he could see the sympathy in her eyes. She blinked and then nodded to him, but it could barley be seen. Cloud nodded, understanding what she meant.

He turned away from Riku and blocked the silver-haired teen out of his mind. His thoughts drifted back to Sephiroth and his friends. Why was Marlene, Barret, and Red there with Vincent? Did they truly wish to check up on everyone, or did they want to help fight Sephiroth-again?

&&&

A dark being stood in the middle of the ruins of his castle. Orange eyes flashed with fury at the state of it. He walked forward, his silver hair flowing behind him. He was wearing a black cloak over his regular clothes as he entered the castle. He walked through all of the rubble, looking at the rubble that was everywhere.

This place had looked different a long time ago, but now it was all rotting away. The man continued down the hallway for quite a ways until he came upon a door. He opened it and walked in. A picture of himself was hanging on the wall. A table sat in the middle of the room, papers scatter all over it. He ignored all of it as he walked over to a wall and place his hand on a specific spot. The wall opened to reveal a wide open place that was full of metal, yet there was no sign of damage done to it. He smirked as he walked over to a computer.

The computer was turned on a there was something pulled up on it. It was an entry of some sort.

**XXXMonthXXXDayXXXYear**

I have returned to my study to find it in ruins. No one knows yet of my return, but it will soon be made clear. From what I understand, my former apprentice, Xehanort, has tried to destroy the Keyblade Master. He will fail every time he tries to take the Keyblade from the wielder. It is an impossible task, but from what I saw today, I learned. Xehanort did the impossible. He killed the Keyblade Master and took his heart-along with the Keyblade.

His attempt was still in vain as he was killed the process. The Keyblade Master is alive and with his friends now. That is good. Now that Xehanort is gone, I now wait on word for the King, though I have not been able to contact him. I would have spoken to him long ago if it had not been for the fact the Xehanort's Heartless has stolen my name.

I fear that the King will believe me to be the Xehanort's Heartless. I do not wish to become an enemy, for the king is a good friend of mine. I shall contact him soon enough, or wait for something to appear up here.

-Ansem

"I see you have found my refuge, Xehanort," a voice came from beside the cloaked man. The man spun around, now known as Xehanort. His orange eyes flashed at the man who stood in a doorway leading an even bigger space. His eyes narrowed at the sight of his old mentor. The man standing before Xehanort had blonde hair, and a blonde beard. He wore a robe of black and red. A cape was on his shoulder and he had on black gloves. He stood as tall as Xehanort, and his blue eyes were hard.

"Ansem-you are a fool, I knew of this place," Xehanort growled.

Ansem shook his head, his blonde hair that had once been neat was now little messy, "I may be a fool, Xehanort, but you are a bigger fool. You believed that you could open Kingdom Hearts and swath the universe in darkness. That can not be done. It is true, Kingdom Heart is made up of both light and dark, but opening the door will do you no good. So you decided to take over a young boy and use him to get what you wanted. That is the makings of a fool. That boy was the destined wielder of the Keyblade, instead, because of his giving into darkness, he wields the Dark Keyblade. Either way, you did not get what you wanted and he stopped you from hurting the Keyblade Wielder's friends. You use his body for a while, but then, he freed himself and you were killed, supposedly, I guess I should say." Ansem replied calmly.

Xehanort narrowed his eyes, raising his head and out stretching his palm in front of his mentor. "You're wrong Ansem, my plan worked. You just have yet to realize what my intentions are. I will give you a hint: The key is darkness-that is the key to everything when you reach what I have. But sadly, you're time is up."

The air around them seemed to shimmer and the lights grew dim. The shadows bent at Xehanort's will and within a second, a beam of energy ripped from the atmosphere and tore into Ansem's body. Ansem's eyes seemed to widened in shock, he grunted in pain, closing his eyes as he dropped to his knees in pain.

Xehanort grinned wicked and was about to finish Ansem off, when out of nowhere, a blue creature jumped on top of his head. "Meega na la queesta!" the blue creature screamed with glee as it bit Xehanort on the head. Xehanort's concentration as broken as he tried to throw the creature off.

"You keep him busy, Stitch, I'll take care of Ansem!" a voice yelled. Xehanort saw a flash of gold before he began to fight the blue creature that was crawling everywhere on him, distracting him from murdering Ansem.

When he finally threw Stitch off, Ansem was gone. Xehanort's eyes flared with rage as Stitch quickly scampered off. "Aaarrggghhhh!" he screamed in fury, "Damn you Mickey!" (Gasp! How dare he!)

Then, quiet suddenly his eyes darkened. "Fine, if you won't let me kill Ansem, I will just have to kill the Keyblade Wielder as I should have long ago!" Xehanort said, an insane glint in his eyes. "Ha, ha, ha! Riku-come back to me!" he yelled, raising up his cloaked arms. A new plan that was the follow-up to his other was

&&&

Riku awoke, his eyes wide in horror, he heard himself shouting, "Come back to me!". He was shaking and looked around him wildly. Cloud was staring at him again, and this time everyone else was looking at him. Riku's breathing slowed as he tried to calm himself. He gulped and took a shallow breath as Kairi walked up to him, locking her eyes with his. "What?" he asked quietly, knowing that everyone had heard him.

"What were you dreaming about Riku?" Kairi asked in a gentle voice, seeing Riku's state of terror.

Riku barley heard her as he recalled the images in his dream. _He_ had been in Xehanort, or Ansem's, place-his shadow's place. He had seen through Ansem's eyes and he could feel every emotion going through the crazed man. Riku shuttered, wondering if what he had been dreaming was real. He turned his aqua blue-green eyes on Kairi and replied by just shaking his head. He tried to speak, but no words would come out.

"Were you dreaming somethin' bad?" Goofy asked, walking right up to Riku. "You look scared to death, Riku!"

"Yeah well! He sounded pretty evil to me when he said that!" Donald snapped back, staying in the back of the Gummi ship with Sora. Sora, however, got up and walked over to Riku. Aurithia had merely glanced at him before returning to the controls. Cloud hadn't said anything as he turned away from Riku. He wouldn't pry into other people's business.

"Donald!" Kairi snapped, glaring at the white duck, who glared right back at her.

Riku narrowed his eyes. It was obvious that the duck did not trust him. He looked at Sora and Kairi-both were looking at him with great curiosity. "What were you dreaming about? You did you want to come back?" Sora asked, his blue eyes flashing momentarily with wonder.

"It wasn't me, Sora," Riku replied, finding his voice. "No-wasn't me. It is just the opposite. I do not want some one to come back, someone wants _me_ to come back."

"So…you were in their point of view? Strange-who was it?" Kairi asked, sitting down next to the chair that Riku was sitting in.

Riku was unsure if he should tell them or not. He didn't really want to, he didn't want to worry them. It had just been a dream, right? There was nothing to worry about. He didn't respond as he looked out the window. His eyes widened at the place where they were going. The world wasn't far off at all.


	6. Truth Be Known

Chapter Six: Truth Be Known

"_So…you were in their point of view? Strange-who was it?" Kairi asked, sitting down next to the chair that Riku was sitting in. _

_Riku was unsure if he should tell them or not. He didn't really want to, he didn't want to worry them. It had just been a dream, right? There was nothing to worry about. He didn't respond as he looked out the window. His eyes widened at the place where they were going. The world wasn't far off at all._

The Gummi ship landed on the island, a shocked Kairi, Sora, and Riku piled off along with a calm Cloud, an anxious Donald and Goofy, and a monotone Aurithia. "Why-Why are we on Destiny Island?" Riku asked, staring at the island that he had been away from for what seemed like forever, but truly, it had only been about a month.

"This is where your journey began and ended and so it shall begin again. You must seek what cannot be found." Aurithia repeated what she had told Riku ever since they had met her. Was she directing this at him, or Sora? What about Kairi? But Riku could feel her burning gaze on him and he realized, with a sinking heart, that this part of the journey was his. Sora had played his part. So what did that mean?

"I wonder is Selphie, Wakka, and Tidus are here," Kairi said, looking around instantly for their friends. Riku blinked, his eyes also searching for his friends. Sora seemed to shrug and didn't look around at all. Riku looked at his fiend, wondering if that was how he had been he had first come back to Destiny Island.

"_Riku-come back to me!"_

Riku shivered as the voice ran through his mind. He knew that Ansem was talking to him through thought, so Riku tried to concentrate on anything but that voice. He stared at the sand, concentrating really hard on it, trying to block Ansem's voice out.

"_Come back to me Riku. If you do not, I will only imply force upon you. No matter the way you return, it will be soon. Sooner than you think. I understand that you saw that little thing with my damned mentor and the blasted King, right? You see-they are both fools, don't you agree? You once did, so why not now?"_

"Riku? Are you coming?" Kairi's voice broke Riku's concentration and Ansem's voice flooded his mind.

"_My plans are full-proof now. What I told Ansem the Wise-or Ansem the Fool, was a lie. Though, in a way it was not. You and your damned friends did not succeed in killing me all the way. How wonderful! I am happy to say that in due time, my Nobody shall reunite with me along with the dark angel. Yes, the dark angel is out to kill Sora. With you and your Dark Keyblade on my side-along with the damned Keyblade Master's Destructor, I will be able to kill Sora. _

"_You, Riku, will be the new wielder of the Destructor. And do not be surprised, I can sense your shock. It is still in existence. And guess what, Riku, you can summon it now-not Sora. Sora may still have a darkened heart, but my shadow still remains in yours. That darkness alone will allow you to summon the Keyblade that was once thought to be destroyed only a day ago._

"_Riku, join me once more in my rein. Join me and you will not regret it. No harm will come to your friend, Kairi, though I cannot say the same for Sora. You will be the death of him. Wonderful isn't it? Heh, am I making you mad? Good. Anger and hate are the keys and ties to darkness. Both still live on in your heart. You want to hurt me? Do you want to take my life, Riku? Do you want to strangle me? Stab me? Slit my throat? That is a good sign, reside in your anger because you cannot reach me. Soon the darkness will get to you and you will be left without a choice. I will be waiting for you."_

Riku wasn't aware of anything but his own fury. Ansem's words echoed through his mind and he tried to calm himself down, but it was in vain. His eyes shut tight with rage and he clenched his fists together, dropping to his knees. He could feel the darkness in his heart grow. It felt as if it were seeping into his bloodstream.

"Riku?" a questioning voice said. It was Kairi, but Riku was deaf to it.

In his rage, he didn't notice that he was on his knees, but now he bent over, digging his fingers into the sand. Riku felt his heart pounding in his chest, his mind racing. His blood boiled with hate at the very thought of hurting his friends and joining Ansem again. Then quiet suddenly, a pain raced through his right arm that he wielded his Dark Keyblade with. He bit his lip, biting back a yelp of shock, but a sound passed his lips as the sand around his fingers turned a dark black. The black seeped into the sand, tracing something in the sand.

"_You see? I was right. Now, come to me, Riku."_

"Riku!" Aurithia's alarmed voice filled his ears, but again, he forgot about his friends as the black sand solidified.

Riku raised his hand to stare at the blade the rested in his palm. His open opened in a silent scream of fury. The Destructor lay in his hand, glistening in the sunlight. "Arrgghhh! Get this thing away from me!" Riku suddenly screamed, throwing the blade into the sand. It stabbed into it deeply. Swirls of dark magic surrounded it, and then it vanished.

"_Ha, ha! Shocked? Surprised? Angry? Hateful? It is only to be expected. Who would have thought-you to possesses both the Dark Keyblade that unlocks darkness and the Destructor, the Keyblade of murder and destruction? Ha! What a good combination for my apprentice!"_

"Was that the-?" Kairi asked, staring at the spot where the Keyblade had been.

Riku felt his body going numb as he looked up at his friends. They were all staring at him and his new curse. He stood up, brushing the sand off of his cloak. Sora was about to speak up when Riku interrupted, his tone dark and harsh-icy, "Don't say anything, Sora. I already have enough to coop with."

Everyone could only stare as Riku shoved past them all and reached into his pocket taking out a black cloth-his blindfold.

&&&

Sora didn't understand. Why-no how could Riku summon a destroyed Keyblade-much less the Destructor? That had been his Keyblade for a time. He watched in silence as Riku tied the blindfold over his face, shutting the light out. Sora felt sympathy flood through his soul towards his best friend. Obviously something was going on with Riku that he was not about to talk about. "What does he have to coop with?" Sora asked, looking at Aurithia, Cloud, and Kairi.

Kairi shrugged, but Cloud continued to stare at Riku. Aurithia, however walked over to Sora and responded gravely, "This is all happening much to early. Something terrible has occurred. I knew it was coming, but I did not expect it to happen so fast. It is as the Prophecy says."

"Prophecy? What Prophecy?" Sora demanded at once, looking at Aurithia with a flash of anger for not telling them sooner. "Tell us!"

Aurithia nodded, "Very well, it goes like this:

_A Shadowed One will walk on the brink of Twilight and Dawn. The shadows around him will bend at his will. He will rein over all with the Dark and the Bloody Shadow. His own shadow shall live, an angel following him, his rival's blood on his hands. The Shadow and the Shadowed will seek the blood of the Pure One. The banded shall join as one and regain their numbers with the Shadow and the Shadowed. The Angel will fly and destroy the ones who are marked and the Universe shall plunge into darkness." _

Sora blinked as Aurithia finished. "What is that supposed to mean?" Kairi seemed to be asking the same thing without using any words.

"That is for me to know and for you to find out," was Aurithia's simple reply. Sora and Kairi gave her angry looks, but Cloud did not answer. Instead he as looking at his hands, then at Riku, and then at Aurithia.

"Wh-What?" Cloud gasped out, his eyes wide.

Aurithia smirked, "Oh, so you have figured out some of it?"

"You mean Sephiroth is going to-oh hell no!" (think of how Will Smith says 'Oh hell no!' and that is how Cloud says it.)

&&&

Axel glared at Arkath. "Grr!" he grumbled, slamming five cards down on the table. It had the Suicide King, along with four other kings. "Beat that!" Axel challenged.

Arkath smirked, "Okay," Arkath calmly laid down five Aces, making Axel's face pale with anger and shock. "Looks like you lost-again."

"What? NO!" Axel screamed, clutching his hair, but he quickly regained his cool. '_Gotta remember your training!'_ he told himself as he handed Arkath 1300 Munny.

"You're not a very calm person, are you Reno?" the little girl that had hugged Cloud earlier asked, staring at him with wide eyes.

Axel blinked, "Reno? Who the hell is Reno?"

"Axel! Watch your mouth!" Tifa snapped. Axel looked over at Tifa with a sheepish grin. "Oh sorry," he apologized and then looked back at the girl. "My name is Axel A-X-E-L, got it? Not Reno."

"Whatever, Reno," Marlene said, grinning slyly at him.

"Has anyone seen a damn Moogle anywhere?" Barret, a big dark-skinned man asked, walking in the door-or what was supposed to be the door.

"Barret! I just got onto Axel for cursing in front of Marlene! I don't care if you are the girl's father-you are not going to curse in front of her!" Tifa shouted.

Axel rolled his eyes, resting his head on one of his gloved hands. "I sure wish Roxas were here…Why couldn't they stay split?"

As if to answer his question, a cloaked figured walked in, a hood masking their face. Axel looked up, his green eyes flashing. He tried to see if the figure had blonde hair-nope, he couldn't see any hair and so it couldn't have been Roxas/ Roxas's hair always stuck out from under his hood.

"Has Sora, Riku, and Kairi left yet?" an unfamiliar voice asked.

Everyone turned to look at the figure and nodded, "Who are you?" Merlin asked, walking up to the figure. "You aren't supposed to just walk right into my house without warning us first!"

"Scalvatrx," the hooded figure turned to face Arkath, who looked at him expectantly. "Where is your sister? I hear from the Moogle that she is here, though I do not see her."

&&&

Under the cloak, Demyx felt extremely nervous. Why did it always have to be him who went into the enemy's houses and speak with them? Because he whined that he wasn't good at fighting? Or that he liked to act all rock-star like and attract a crowd? Then his heart sank-or what was supposed to be his heart as he realized with horror that the Organization could do without him. that was not a fun thought.

Demyx looked at Axel, blinking, biting his lip. Surely Axel would recognize his voice! That was when Demyx noticed that Axel seemed very upset about something and was staring at him intently. Demyx watched with terror as Axel stood up and walked over to him. He feared Axel was going to blow his cover, but instead, Axel walked right past him. Just as Demyx thought he was going to be okay, Axel grabbed him by the arm and yanked him forcefully out the door. Demyx yelped with surprise, rejoicing that his hood hadn't fallen off, otherwise he'd have been beat to death.

Maybe Axel was just going to kick him out. Oh who was he kidding? Axel was going to beat the living daylights out of him. Demyx followed backwards as Axel continued to drag him further away from Merlin's house. When they reached the ruin Market Place, only then did Axel release him.

"What are you doing here?" Axel hissed, glaring at Demyx. Demyx could taste the crimson in his mouth from where he was biting his lip. Yes, the Nobodies had changed through death. They could feel; they could bleed. "Well? Demyx, don't play dumb-only an idiot wouldn't realize that that isn't you under there!" Axel snapped.

"Oh…" was Demyx's only response.

"You fool! You think you can just walk into Merlin's house and that I won't recognize you immediately? For one, you're the only person I know that tall with a black cloak besides Riku and Roxas, secondly, your voice gives you away, and thirdly, you can't fool me!"

"Oh…but Axel, I did just walk in there," Demyx pointed out.

"That's not the point!"

"Then what is?"

"Are you always this ignorant? I'm surprised Xemnas hasn't tried to get rid of-oh, wait a minute. Did the Organization tell you to walk in there like that?" Axel suddenly demanded.

"Well…um…yes, but um…how do you know the Organization is still alive?" Demyx asked, giving Axel a sheepish grin.

Axel rolled his eyes. "I really feel sorry for you Demyx. But you do realize that Xemnas was trying to get you killed-but out of the kindness of my heart, I saved you."

"No, you mean because I was Roxas's friend, you saved me, right?" Demyx asked, the teasing note in his voice.

"Whatever. Anyway-wait a second-What? No! I can be kind too ya know! Anyway, I have a job for you,"

"What?"

"Go away and never return to Radiant Garden, or the Organization again. Go live your rock star life, got that?"

"And if I don't?"

"I'll kill you," was Axel's reply. Demyx's eyes widened and he nodded. Then he bolted and ran for it. Axel laughed to himself. Demyx was such an idiot. He wouldn't kill Demyx because he had stolen 1,000,000,000 munny from the guy when they had first met him. Apparently Demyx had actually been a rock star or something before he became a Nobody. And in truth, he had been Roxas's friend, and Roxas-if he ever came back, would find out that he had torched his best friend and become very pissed with him.

&&&

Riku wrapped the blindfold around his forehead, not his eyes. No, he wasn't going to do that just yet. He wanted to see the light for a few more hours before his world of darkness returned. He walked along the shoreline, ignoring Cloud, Kairi, Sora, and Aurithia who were talking quietly a good ways off. He watched the clear ocean waves wash over his black boots that he wore, turning them a glistening black like wet tar. Riku sighed, closing his eyes, feeling the warmth of the sun on his body. He felt so tired, hungry, angry, confused, restless, and pained. He kept telling himself that if what Ansem said was true; that he would indeed hurt his friends, he should leave them, but that was not the right thing to do. He had done that before, and he would not do it again. Last time had been rough and he had lost more things than he had ever dreamed of losing. He had lost Sora's heart and light-his life for a while, but eventually, Sora came back. He had lost his sanity in a way. And most of all, Riku's pride that he always carried had melted away. He did not have the right to feel proud anymore. He had let someone take over his being in order to get power-to get the Keyblade. That was the wrong thing to do and now he had paid for it. It seemed he was still paying for it, seeing as they had not yet killed Ansem. Riku had mentally blocked Ansem's voice out completely, but he was straining himself, trying to hide his weaknesses from himself. One weakness he held was that he feared the darkness. Once he had enjoyed the darkness, had dove into it, but now he was afraid of it. Riku had learned, in Castle Oblivion, not to be fearful of the darkness, but to be one with it. Tame the darkness without being tamed yourself. Riku knew that Ansem was always going to be hanging over him like a shadow. He had just had to face it. Ansem was part of him, but Riku did not want to believe that. He knew it was true, and now his fears of the darkness had come alive-literally. Ansem was out there somewhere, waiting for him. Riku realized, as he walked along the shore, that the 'dream' he had had, was not something his mind had made up. No, it was all real. He knew there had been another Ansem ,Ansem the Wise. He knew of Xehanort, Xehanort's Heartless, and Xehanort's Nobody. But now he knew for sure that Xehanort's Heartless was alive.

"Riku!" a familiar voice called out to him. Riku looked up, his ocean blue green eyes flashing as he spotted a familiar person running towards him. It was Tidus. Tidus had a smile on his face as he came up to Riku. He gave Riku one look and then asked, "So where have you been?"

"Places," Riku muttered, not looking Tidus in the eye.

Tidus noticed the dark look in Riku's eye and became suspicious, "Have you been messing around with the darkness again?"

Riku looked up, anger flaring within his eyes-his blood, but then he became calm and shook his head. "No, it's nothing like that. Look, if you want answers, go talk to Sor- …someone else." Riku was going to say Sora, but he figured Sora would not want to talk about it.

"Riku! Get back here!" a sharp voice snapped. Riku spun around to see Aurithia looking at him with hard eyes. She seemed rather angry about something. "You are supposed to come with us! Don't you keep walking away from me!"

Riku couldn't help but grin as he continued walking along the shore as Tidus raced over to where the other four were.


	7. Murderous Souls

Chapter Seven: Murderous Souls

"_Riku! Get back here!" a sharp voice snapped. Riku spun around to see Aurithia looking at him with hard eyes. She seemed rather angry about something. "You are supposed to come with us! Don't you keep walking away from me!"_

_Riku couldn't help but grin as he continued walking along the shore as Tidus raced over to where the other four were._

&&&

"Demyx has been sent to Radiant Garden, Superior," a dark voice said beneath a cloak. The meeting of the eleven members had broken up and now two hooded figures stood side-by-side at the edge of a ocean. Everything was dark around them-the sky, the waters, the sand. All of the rocks were jagged and black.

The hooded figure, the Superior, turned his head towards the other cloaked figure. "Good, we can finally get him out of our hair. He was a pest and needed to be disposed of. He was weak to my Organization, do you not agree, _Saix_?" the Superior asked, removing his hood. Orange eyes glared into the dark blue eyes of Saix.

"I do, Superior," Saix nodded, removing his hood. Blue hair flowed behind his back. There was an X right between his eyes. His blue eyes were hard and there was a smirk on his face. "Plus he was a friend of the traitors, Roxas and Axel."

Xemnas turned away from Saix, "Are our plans going according to plan? Have you been able to contact the Shadowed One?"

"No, Superior. He is unreachable at the present time." Saix said, his tone grim. "But do not worry, something seems to be ticking the Shadowed One off. The shadow must still be alive."

"Of course the shadow is alive!" Xemnas snapped, his eyes flashing. "Now, please call Xaldin, Zexion, and Larexen to me. Tell them to meet me in my office ASAP." With that Xemnas raised a gloved hand and a portal of darkness appeared in one of the rocks. He stepped through it silently.

&&&

Sephiroth grinned, his Mako tinted eyes glistening with amusement as he kept his raised gloved hand stretched out towards Marluxia. He twisted his wrists slowly and then made a loop and then snapped his wrist forward, making the bones pop. Marluxia, meanwhile, was following the motions, looking very similar to a Dusk at the moment. Sephiroth suddenly raised his hand up and swiped it to the side, bending the atmosphere around him. Marluxia was thrown to the ground at Sephiroth's feet.

"Heh, heh. Manipulating is so much fun!" he laughed darkly to himself. "Now, give in to my whims Marluxia. _Kill that wretched cloaked figure at the door."_ Sephiroth snarled, remembering the cloaked figure who had forced him to put on a black cloak.

Marluxia's eyes dilated and he nodded, picking himself up, and walked out the door, dragging his feet like a zombie would. Sephiroth smirked. This he had to see. Following the flower-obsessed plaything, Sephiroth passed by Zexion who was giving him a strange look. Sephiroth motioned for Zexion to follow. At first Zexion just stared at him coldly before obeying Sephiroth. They reached the entrance in no time and Sephiroth saw the person who had given him the cloak standing there, fiddling with something.

Marluxia's scythe appeared in his hand. Zexion kept quiet as he wondered what Marluxia was going to do. Sephiroth, however, looked Marluxia in the eye and growled, "Make it bloody, and I mean _damned bloody_-_no one_ orders me around and gets away with it." Sephiroth's tone made even Zexion shutter, who was usually emotionless and quite. A wicked grin flashed across Zexion's face as he realized Sephiroth was controlling Marluxia.

Marluxia went up to the cloaked man and put his hood on his head, making him looking like the Grim Reaper…with a pink scythe…yeah. The cloaked figure looked up at Marluxia and was about to say something when the blade of Marluxia's scythe came down on the cloaked man. It impaled the man's chest and ripped downwards, slicing through his stomach. Blood gush from the wound and a scream of pain and terror tore from the man's lips, but it was cut of by the gurgling of blood as Marluxia swung his scythe again, this time cutting through the man's rib cage and puncturing a lung. Blood pooled the ground as the man dropped to his knees, his life fading fast. Marluxia slashed the man's spine, ripping it clean in two.

The last thing the poor man saw was Sephiroth coming from the shadows and looming over him, his dark green eyes lighted with the sight of blood, an insane glint in them. "No one tells me what to do and lives,"

Zexion made a mental note to never order Sephiroth around, least he end up like that guy. "What on earth are you guys doing?" a female voice demanded. Zexion and Sephiroth whirled around to see a blonde hair woman coming down the stair case. She had claws that had concentrated strands of electricity running through them on one of her hands. Her icy eyes were cold.

When she saw the blood all over the floor and the cloaked man's shredded body laying in the middle of all the blood, her eyes widened. "Who did you guys kill?" Larexen demanded. Sephiroth was the first to notice that she wasn't horrified or angry, in fact she seemed rather _excited_.

"Marluxia killed the person who forced me to wear this dreaded cloak." Sephiroth replied dully, looking at the black cloak with distaste. He didn't like it, and now, since he had killed the guy who had forced him to wear it, he could take it off. He grabbed the collar of it and ripped it off his body.

Larexen was about to scream when she noticed that Sephiroth had a leather suit on underneath the cloak and relaxed. "You know you didn't have to rip the cloak off of yourself," she muttered, looking at the torn garment that had once belonged to some other Organization member or something that had been ordered too long for someone.

"Larexen, Zexion!" an authoritative voice snapped from behind Larexen. Sephiroth noticed that it was Saix, Xemnas's supposed favorite in the Organization. "The Superior requests your presence in his office ASAP…"

Sephiroth noticed that Saix's cold eyes had spotted the blood staining Marluxia's scythe and was now looking down at the floor, following the trickle of blood that gathered around his boots. He watched in bemusement as Saix's eyes widened at the sight of the torn body before narrowing. "Marluxia, did you kill this man?"

A devilish grin appeared on Sephiroth's face as he broke the trance he had put on Marluxia. Marluxia seemed to come out of the haze just as Saix asked the question and looked first at Saix, and then at the dead body. Marluxia's eyes widened in shock as he yanked away from the bloody corpse. "What the-? No! I didn't!" he yelped in surprise, seeing the spray of blood all over his cloak and scythe.

"Why are you lying to me?" Saix asked, his voice cold ."You killed Xemnas's attendant."

"Xemnas has an attendant?" Larexen asked, staring at Saix. Clearly she had not known there was another nobody like them outside the Organization besides Axel and Roxas-but that was a different story.

&&&

Xemnas yawned, staring at his door, waiting for Saix to bring the ones that he had wanted to meet with to him. Xaldin walked in a few seconds later, but Larexen and Zexion did not appear. "Xaldin," Xemnas began, turning his cat-like amber eyes on the cloaked man with black hair and sideburns, "where are Larexen and Zexion?"

Xaldin shrugged, shaking his head, "I don't know. I passed them on the way up here. They were with Sephiroth and Marluxia, gawking at something. Then Saix went over to them and now I don't know when they'll be getting here, Superior."

Xemnas nodded, "Very well, wait here." With that said, Xemnas stood up and walked briskly out the door, glancing at the Moogle that was tied up and stuffed into a box on the table. "Watch the Moogle, Xaldin."

&&&

"Yes he _had_ an attendant," Saix growled, glaring at Marluxia.

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes, muttering, "And he got what he deserved…"

"What does that mean?" Saix demanded, his cold voice turning icy and stern as he fixed his blue eyes on Sephiroth. Sephiroth smirked and mouthed 'Something you shall never know,' and then raised his hand and pointed.

"Looks like your leader-Xemnas-is here." Sephiroth pointed out, smirking as he saw the angry look on Xemnas's face. It was clear Xemnas had spotted the dead man laying in his own blood.

"Who killed my attendant?" Xemnas demanded. Everyone-including Zexion-turned to Marluxia. Zexion, however, caught Sephiroth's eye and both grinned evilly as Xemnas marched up to Marluxia in a rage. "Marluxia! You killed my attendant?"

"I-I didn't mean to! I-I mean n-no! I didn't!" Marluxia stuttered, his eyes wide.

Xemnas continued to glare at Marluxia and snapped, "After my meeting with Zexion, Larexen, and Xaldin, I wish to see you in my office, got that? You too Sephiroth!"

Sephiroth blinked and nodded, his grin not vanishing as he turned away from the three and the dead person and walked off outside. Outside, it was pouring down rain and everything was shadowed. "Argh! Rain! Peh-I hate it!" Sephiroth growled as he walked back in.

"Why do you hate rain?" a curious voice asked behind Sephiroth. Sephiroth's eyes twitched slightly as he saw a man with black-gray hair and a long, ugly scar on his cheek. He looked rather old, and his name was Xigbar.

"Rain is pure-rain is bad," Sephiroth growled, remembering a long time ago before he had moved onto Radiant Garden that that stupid wretch of an Aerith had sent rain down from the skies and ran his little puppet-Kadaj off.

&&&

Xemnas sat in his office, now speaking with Zexion, Larexen, and Xigbar. "You three are to go to Destiny Island where our plan begins. Stake out there and keep an eye on both of our targets."

"Both?" Xaldin asked, confused for a second.

"I mean Riku and Cloud," Xemnas growled, his orange eyes flashing. "For now we shall ignore the Keyblade Master and focus on the one closest to the darkness. You will not have to worry about that blasted Sora, Xigbar. No, that is Larexen's problem."

"Mine?" Larexen asked, staring at Xemnas.

"Yes yours," Xemnas replied coldly. "You are to 'mess' with him if you get my meaning. This is where Zexion comes in."

"What? I am _not _going to do _that!_" Larexen shouted in horror.

"You're the only girl here-tough luck. Zexion, you will make Larexen look like someone she is not to Sora and everyone on the damn island. Got that?" Xemnas growled, growing rather irritated. Zexion only nodded, his cold silver-blue eyes not showing any emotion. "Good, then you will go with Xigbar and help him with Riku. Later on, I will send Xaldin in search of the dead woman."

&&&

Zexion was a little surprised that Xemnas wanted Larexen to flirt with Sora. Strange of Xemnas-but his plan seemed full-proof because no one would ever know it was Larexen because of two reasons. 1. Sora's memory of Castle Oblivion had been erased. 2. He would change her image. Then he was supposed to go help Xigbar with Riku, though he did not quite understand what Xemnas was wanting him to do. He remained silent as Larexen continued to stare with shock and horror.

Xaldin, however, had to speak up on this part, "Do you think you'd be cheating on Axel, Larexen?" he teased.

A smile played on Zexion's lips as he tried to bite back a laugh. Even Xemnas was trying not to crack under the look at Larexen now had on her face. Her face had turned pink and she was glaring furiously at Xaldin. "No!" she defended, but Zexion could hear the uncertainty in her voice. She was lying to herself and she knew it!

"Okay," Xemnas said, regaining his cool, "this meeting is over. Larexen, Zexion, you two stay here. Xaldin, go get Sephiroth and Marluxia."

&&&

"Rain is bad? But how can rain be bad? It's fun to play in-as in blood shed and watch the water spread the blood everywhere. So much fun!" Xigbar said merrily, his eyes bright.

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes. This guy was either drunk, or someone had done something to him. either that Zexion had morphed his personality-one of those. Yes, Zexion was useful for something, and that was morphing things and twisting peoples' minds and beings. "Sephiroth! Marluxia-Xemnas is waiting!" a voice yelled.

Sephiroth looked over at the stairs and saw Xaldin standing there. He nodded, glad to get away from Xigbar and rushed up the steps. Marluxia just walked up them, wiping the blood off his scythe. That meeting had been short. When Sephiroth reached Xemnas's office, he opened the door and looked around, to find that it was black-just like the meeting room with candles lighting it. Xemnas obviously had good taste-except for the fact that he had stolen Sephiroth's hairstyle, that did not make Sephiroth happy-it made him furious.

Marluxia came up behind him as he walked in the door and sat down next to Zexion who gave him a solemn look. Larexen look horrified and was gawking at Xemnas. "What'd I miss?" Sephiroth whispered to Zexion, "Did Xemnas just ask Larexen to marry him?"

Zexion chuckled at that comment. "No, no, nothing like that. It had to do with Sora and her-ya know."

Sephiroth's eyes widened in surprise. "You mean Xemnas wants-Egh! It would never work out for them!" That made both of them laugh. Someone cleared their throat and Sephiroth's head snapped up and he saw Xemnas glaring at both of them. Sephiroth wasn't sure if Xemnas had heard him or not, but it didn't matter. They would all be dead in due time-except for maybe Zexion-they could get along real well.

"Okay, explain to me, why did Marluxia kill my attendant?" Xemnas demanded, his voice cold.

Marluxia looked at Xemnas, "But I don't even remember laying a finger-or blade on your attendant!"

"Is that so? So what do you remember?" Xemnas asked.

Sephiroth blinked. He was about to be found out he knew it! Like he cared. The guy had forced him to where a cloak-no! That was so not him! "I remember standing in front of Sephiroth. He muttered something and then my mind went blank."

Xemnas turned his eyes on Sephiroth. "Sephiroth, do you have the ability to manipulate others?"

Sephiroth grinned, his Mako green eyes flashing as he nodded, "Yes I do-what fun it is! Watch this!"

Xemnas looked at Sephiroth heard him muttered something in a language he didn't understand ,staring deeply into Larexen's eyes. Sephiroth raised one of his gloved hands, "Now Larexen. Tell us-how much do you love Axel?"

(Heh-heh! You guys are going to have to wait for the next chappie to find that one out! This is going to be fun! Alright the next chapter is called: Buster Sword' Revenge. You'll find out why-if you can't guess it. Anyway, thank you for all of your reviews. I apologize again for abandoning this fan fiction for so long. My ideas had stopped coming for this story, but now they are back. Am I making it clear why I want Cloud and Sephiroth to be main characters now? I had many people ask me that several times. Well, if you don't understand now, you will soon. This book is much faster than the last one, which is how it is supposed to be. I am thinking up ideas as I go along. And then I was reading Secret of Memories and had an idea for this story form. That is why it has its sudden comeback! Oh and Riku says hi and that he hates my guts cause I actually came him the very Keyblade that he hates! Heh-heh!)

&&

Sorry for the long wait!


	8. Buster Sword's Revenge

Chapter Eight: Buster Sword's Revenge

_Xemnas turned his eyes on Sephiroth. "Sephiroth, do you have the ability to manipulate others?" _

_Sephiroth grinned, his Mako green eyes flashing as he nodded, "Yes I do-what fun it is! What this!"_

_Xemnas looked at Sephiroth heard him muttered something in a language he didn't understand ,staring deeply into Larexen's eyes. Sephiroth raised one of his gloved hands, "Now Larexen. Tell us-how much do you love Axel?"_

&&&

Cloud watched Riku go, wondering what was wrong with Riku. Usually he would listen to them, but now he just kept on walking. Cloud had noticed that the black cloth that they had all thought he had put over his eyes, was actually tied around his forehead. He narrowed his eyes at Riku's fading figure. "Come on, Cloud, we have to go catch up with Riku." Kairi said, dragging him along.

Cloud nodded and began to run after the nineteen year-old. He was swifter than everyone else and easily past them. It didn't take long to catch up with Riku. Cloud slowed and was now walking beside Riku. "What's up? Why didn't you listen to us?" Cloud asked, his tone stern.

Riku looked up at him with blank eyes. Cloud stared at Riku's eyes for a moment, noticing the shadow in them that quickly vanished. "Because you guys were breaking my concentration-and you just broke it again."

"Concentration? For what?" Cloud asked.

"To fight off my darkness." Riku replied simply.

"Your darkness? Heh, least yours is inside you and doesn't try to slit your throat open every time you see it." Cloud growled, glancing back at Aurithia, Sora, and Kairi, who had slowed and was letting Cloud speak with Riku.

"What do you mean?" Riku asked, confusion plain in his eyes.

"You mean no one has told you?" Cloud asked staring at Riku. He had thought that Sora or Kairi had told Riku. 'Guess not-I have been gone for a long time-arguing with Scalvatrx-I mean Arkath-and fighting Sephiroth.'

Riku shook his head, "No, who is your darkness?"

Cloud sighed and replied sarcastically, "As he calls himself 'the Almighty God Sephiroth'. Heh-he's just another damned experiment-though he doesn't know it. And then he hangs over me all the time trying to get rid of the light inside of me. I pity him really," Cloud admitted, looking at Riku.

"Pity your darkness? I don't pity mine-I despise mine. He's always trying to manipulate me." Riku responded bluntly. Cloud blinked, and to Riku and his own surprise, began laughing. "Why are you laughing?" Riku asked.

"Ha, ha because…Ansem and Sephiroth ha-ha could be the best of friends! Ha-ha-ha! Both love to ha-ha manipulate others and bend their minds, ha-ha!"

"_**SPIKY ASSED FOO'! We can all hear you ya know!"**_

Cloud nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of the voice. He looked in his pocket and saw his PHS. It was open and Barret was shouting into his on the other end. "Ah shit!" Cloud grumbled.

"Yeah 'Ah shit!' is right! You don't need to joke about that!" Tifa yelled.

"Tifa!" Cloud growled, taking out his PHS and noticing that there was a cord leading up to his ear. He had forgotten that he had stuck it in his ear so that he could hear and talk to them back and forth telling them everything. "I wasn't joking! It's true!"

"Yeah well, Sephiroth and Ansem are different!"

"How?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah how?" Riku demanded.

They heard Tifa sigh, "Because you idiot, Sephiroth wants to become a god so he-er uh-Aerith, don't take this as an insult-killed Aerith, trying to destroy the Planet, killed our parents, stabbed you three times, destroyed Midgar, destroyed Nimbelheim, and-"

"Okay, okay Tifa! I get it!"

"And then you fell into the Lifestream, went crazy, thought of yourself as someone that wasn't Cloud, placed yourself as Zack, gave Sephiroth the Black Materia, then beat the hell out of Aerith-"

"Don't remind me."

"Tried to kill her. Then you came and got yourself drunk, brought home Denzel cause you found him in Aerith's church, Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo came around, Kadaj tried to kill Rufus, Rufus have JENOVA's head, Kadaj took it, became Sephiroth. Sephiroth tried to take away everything you care about, but you killed him again with you buster sword and then you had to battle Deep Ground and then you moved to Radiant Garden and then you found him there and he became your darkness."

"Yeah-go and spill everything about me to Riku! Nice going Tifa!"

"Opps, sorry, Cloud!"

"Easy for you to say…"

"Y-You beat up Aerith?" Riku gasped, staring at Cloud. "But I thought you l-" Suddenly cloud put his hand around Riku's mouth, cutting off the teen's sentence. Cloud then shut the PHS and looked at Riku, "Sorry,"

Cloud nodded, "It's fine-I guess. But now you have to go back tot he others-got that?" Riku blinked and then shook his head. "Why not?"

"Because I might hurt them."

"Is this because you summoned that black Keyblade? That doesn't matter-come on let's go back," Cloud said, his voice full of determination as he began to drag Riku. Riku struggled against the ex-SOLDIER's death grip, but Cloud only shot him a glare and responded, "Don't even try to fight me, Riku. I'm an ex-SOLDIER-well I never did make it to SOLDIER…sort of, but I was trained by Sephiroth himself."

Riku's struggles faltered, "You were trained by…Sephiroth?"

'Yeah, he's the ex-General of-what the-"

Cloud had spotted someone in a beach chair, leaned back, obviously sleeping. His eyes widened and a smile played on his lips. He began laughing so hard as he let go of Riku and walked over to the sleeping man. He motioned for Riku to keep silent as he stopped laughing and motioned for the others to stop coming forward. Carefully, and silently, Cloud slunk over to the sleeping figure and took out his PHS. There was a built in camera on it and he took a picture of the sleeping man and sent it to Tifa.

The man was wearing a shirt decorated in Moogles that was red and had on a pair of khaki shorts. His light brown hair was slicked back, looking very neat. Two locks of hair rain in front of his face, making him look very much like Demyx at the moment. Cloud got behind the man and grabbed the sun screen bottle next to the lounge chair. He opened it and squirted it o the man's face, making it look as if he had a white mustache and white eye brows. Then Cloud squirted it all over his eyes making him look as if someone had sprayed cool whip all over is face.

Cloud took another picture and sent it to Tifa. Meanwhile Riku could tell Cloud was trying his best not to die laughing. Aurithia, Sora, and Kairi were laughing silently at what Cloud was doing, though they did not know who the man was. Riku himself was shaking with silent laughter. (let's just hope the guy doesn't have his gun on him! Course he's blinded by the sunscreen!-I'm a fan of the unknown man at the moment for those who have not played FFVII. You'll find out who he is soon enough.)

&&&

"I love Axel enough to ask him to go to-"

"Don't even finish that, Larexen!" Sephiroth snapped, breaking her trance. All at once and image flashed in his mind of a certain someone asleep in lounge chair on the beach with sun screen all over his face. Sephiroth's grin widened. "Excuse me for a moment," he told Xemnas, vanishing by teleporting his way to Destiny Island. (uh-oh)

&&&

Cloud sensed it before it happened. The around them turned black, and through all of the darkness, a light sprung forth, etching an image in the sky. There was a way of light that blasted down towards the ground and before his eyes Sephiroth materialized from the light and stepped out, his one-wing flapping in the still air. Surprisingly, the sleeping man had not yet awakened. "Sephiroth!" Cloud breathed quietly, "What the hell are you doing here?"

Sephiroth merely glanced at him before rushing over to where Cloud stood and stared at the man. Cloud didn't do anything as Sephiroth peered at his could-have-been boss. Cloud noticed the smile on Sephiroth's face. "Cloud! How you managed to stumble across this ba-----, I don't know, but hell, this is way too funny!"

All at once Sephiroth raised his hand and curled his fingers into a fist. He brought them down on the man's sleeping face. "Time to get up Rufus!" There was a harsh cracking sound as the man awoke, screaming in pain as he clutched his bleeding nose, but his cry was carried by the wind and faded as he grimaced, meeting the cold, insane eyes of Sephiroth.

"Dammit Sephiroth! Why the hell did you break my nose?" Rufus raised his hand and wiped away the sunscreen that was supposed to have gotten in his eyes, but had somehow not and he could see. He wiped his face some more finding even more sunscreen. He blinked, rubbing all of it off and then looked from Cloud to Sephiroth, "Why are you two laughing? I thought you were both enemies!"

"Old friends can have a laugh when they broke their old boss's nose and put sunscreen all over their face-right?" Cloud laughed, clutching his sides.

Rufus narrowed his eyes, barley feeling the pain as he wiped away the fresh blood that came from his nose. Sephiroth, however glared at Cloud, "We aren't old friends Cloud!"

"We were until you went insane!" Cloud snapped back, but continued to laugh. Riku and the others were dumbfounded.

Rufus continued to snarl at them as he leapt to his feet and dug a small green orb out of his pocket. "Good thing I brought this! Cure 2!" A green wave of light surrounded him his nose mended. "Grr! I'm going to kill you Strife and…and…whatever your last name is! Um…Hojo Jr.!" (harsh!)

Sephiroth stopped laughing and looked at Rufus with horror,. "What?! I am not a Hojo Jr. ! For that remark I'm gonna have to kill Strife now!"

Cloud, who was laughing" Yeah! Oh hey! WHAT?! Damned angel!"

Sephiroth only laughed as he drew the Masamune. Cloud glanced towards Riku, who watched with silence, not moving, not frowning, not smiling, not laughing, he was emotionless and appeared dead.

&&&

Tifa stared at the picture of Rufus as it appeared on her PHS. "What the hell? Is that Rufus?" she gasped, choking with laughter. Everyone came forward, including Aerith who had been careful to stay away from everyone. The members of AVALANCHE: Vincent, Barret, Red-and you could consider Marlene as one, but she really wasn't-glanced at her. Clearly they had not expected to see her there because to them, she was dead. It had been quite a surprise for the rest for members of AVALANCHE: Tifa, Cloud, and Cid to take it in at first. AVALANCHE was a terrorist group that destroyed Mako towers for the good of the Planet, but we won't get into all of that.

"Wait a second-where are they at?" Barret asked, looking at the sand all around Rufus who was asleep.

&&&

Riku hadn't expected Sephiroth to look so much like him-Ansem. He blinked, noticing that Sephiroth seemed a little older than Ansem. So did that mean Ansem stole Sephiroth's look? Maybe…wait a second! Why was he concerned about what Ansem and Sephiroth looked like? He wasn't so he just watched in silence as Cloud drew the buster sword out, handling it with one hand. Riku was surprised that Cloud could wield such a giant sword, but of course, when he reflected on Sephiroth, it would have been really hard to handle a twelve foot sword and not carry it around- stabbing and chopping things, but Sephiroth was an expert at it.

"Hey! Don't fight while I'm standing right between you two!" Rufus suddenly shouted, jumping to his feet and rushing into the water until he figured he was a safe distance away from Sephiroth and Cloud. Riku watched as Rufus rushed-avoiding getting anywhere near Cloud and Sephiroth-over towards him. "Hey kid! I suggest you move before one of them cuts your head off!" Rufus warned sharply as he went over to a palm tree and sat under it. Riku rolled his eyes.

"Heh-Rufus! I wouldn't hurt Riku-they need him now, but you-you could end up like your father if you keep interfering like that!" Sephiroth snapped, swinging his blade at Cloud swiftly. It could barley be seen at the speed Sephiroth had swung it, but Cloud somehow jumped up, doing a flip-defying gravity-and landed about five feet away from Sephiroth, his buster sword pressing into the sand.

Cloud raised it and glared at Sephiroth. Riku watched as Cloud unhooked a second sword from the buster sword so that he now wielded two blades. Sora, Kairi, and Aurithia had come up beside Riku now and were watching in silence. Every so often, Riku would glance at Aurithia and see her stony blue eyes glance at him for a split of a second every time he looked at her. Riku bit back a smile as he watched Cloud dodge yet another blow from the deadly Masamune. "Give it up, Strife!" Sephiroth snapped. "Give in to your darkness!"

"Not on your life, Sephiroth! You've tried to destroy my life before-well you'll never accomplish that without destroying everything! And the last time I checked, ruling the world was on your agenda!" Cloud snapped back, hooking the second blade back in place. He began to glow a red shade as he got ready to use his limit break.

Sephiroth smirked, not giving Cloud time to use Omnislash as he leapt up into the air, using his wing to levitate, he sheathed the Masamune and held his hands out to his side. A dark glow surrounded him and Cloud. Dark orbs floated around the two, and all at once, they heard Sephiroth growl, "Heartless Angel!"

Before anyone could react, Cloud dropped the ground, his strength gone. He groaned as the energy left him, but his strength doubled, causing him to raise his buster sword and swing it outwards, "Omnislash!" The deadly attack hit Sephiroth, causing a great deal of damage several times over. Cloud quickly healed himself, and noticed Sephiroth did the same. He clenched his fist together as Sephiroth sheathed the Masamune and stood there, his black wing fluttering.

"What are you doing? Giving up already?" Cloud asked, his voice showing the weariness he felt within, but his eyes held the strength to fight Sephiroth. "You fled last time-going to do it again?"

Sephiroth merely narrowed his eyes, "I have failed once more, but Cloud, the darkness within you will grow and the light will die. When it does, I'll be there, mocking you in your time of doom." With that, Sephiroth vanished as quickly as he had come.

"Damn him!" Cloud muttered angrily, his eyes flashing as he sheathed the buster sword.

"Cloud, how come Sephiroth left?" Kairi asked, her eyes wide. Cloud turned to look at her, but he did not answer. Instead he remained silent and kept his eyes on Aurithia. It was clear he was ready to continue.

&&&

Xemnas kept his eyes one Zexion and Larexen and Xaldin. "You guys go-you're job is calling," he growled.

Zexion nodded, vanishing with Larexen, followed by Xaldin. Just as they left, Sephiroth reappeared, a stern look on his face. He did not speak to Xemnas about where he had been, instead he asked, "Where am I to stay?"

Xemnas rolled his eyes, "In Demyx's old room. You can fashion it in anyway you like as long as it has no sexually disturbing content-you know what I mean-no corpses, blood, or anything in the such. Otherwise you're free to decorate it anyway you want-no insults to anyone though."

Sephiroth nodded and left Xemnas's office, muttering something about he would never put something sexually disturbing up in his room.

&&&

Ansem-Xehanort-glared as he sat down in his chair. He was back in the very room where he had kept the Seven Princesses of Heart, waiting for Riku to return. His eyes were closed as he spoke with Riku mentally, but every time he tried to speak, his messages were interrupted by a wave of darkness. The time was coming very soon. Ansem grinned, remembering the horror he had made his little puppet feel when he had put the Destructor in his hand.

In truth, the origins of the Destructor were known by him only. Sora's heart had not created it; no, it had belonged to someone that no one would ever suspect. His eyes opened, glinting with an evil sheen as he remembered his long-time enemy.

&&&

Mickey looked over at his friend, Ansem the Wise. Ansem the Wise was asleep at the moment, still recovering from the nearly-fatal wound that Xehanort-Fake Ansem-had inflicted upon his body. Stitch meanwhile was scurrying around the room, getting into everything.

Mickey ignored the little blue creature as he turned to a hooded figure leaning against a wall, looking at him. "Are you sure you're up to this?" he asked, looking at the hooded figure with uncertainty.

The hooded figure, "Yeah, Mickey. I'm up to it alright," To Mickey, the voice sounded so familiar, but he could not place it. Something in his heart told him to trust this person, though he did not know who it was.

"Okay then, they are waiting at Destiny Island." Mickey said, glancing over at Ansem the Wise. "You do not need to worry about DiZ here, he'll be fine," Only Mickey and Xehanort-Fake Ansem-knew that this person was actually Ansem the Wise, not DiZ.

The hooded figure nodded and extended their hand. There was a swirling dark energy in their palm, like a lightning strike and a long, thin blade appeared. It had a a dark aura around it and seemed to bring off a deadly intent to the wielder. Mickey sighed, knowing it was going to be hard. He had already known the hooded figure was someone of the shadows, but they were going to help him, and that was what he needed.

The hooded teen did a small bow before turning around and placing her hand on the cold metal wall. A portal of darkness rose from the ground and she stepped into it.

"Remember! Always keep in the light-but stay with the tamed darkness!" Mickey shouted as the portal began to close.


	9. Heartbroken

(There is a replacement on chapter EIGHT at the VERy End. Go read it, okay?) Forgive me for not updating!

Chapter Nine: Heartbroken

Larexen groaned as Zexion morphed her appearance so that Sora or his friends would not recognize her. Why did if have to be her? Marluxia looked like a girl-he could do it! _'Yeah, he has such long girly hair! He could easily pass off as a woman! Xaldin already mistaked him the first time they met!'_ She heard Zexion start laughing and realized that she had been talking aloud.

She turned her head sharply to glare at the silver-haired usually emotionless man beside her. She herself, could not see the difference in her appearance, nor could Zexion, though he knew what he had done. Meanwhile Xaldin was staring at her, drool appearing in the corner of his mouth. Upon seeing this, Larexen raised her gloved hand-not her clawed one-and smacked him across the face. (heh-heh poor Xaldin!-not!)

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Aerith stood beside Tifa, looking at the images with laughter clear on her face. Yuffie was also giggling profoundly, leaning against Leon, her face buried in his shoulder as she tried to contain her screams of laughter. Meanwhile Leon kept trying to inch away from the laughing ninja, but he might as well go up to Rinoa and tell her that he was going out with Yuffie and had been cheating on her. Hell would break loose before Yuffie stopped laughing at the pictures of Rufus!

"Yuffie! Get off!" Leon snapped at her angrily, but Yuffie tightened her grip, her fingers digging into his shoulder, making him flinch.

Aerith meanwhile, had grabbed the PHS from Tifa and had, faster than anyone had thought possible, rushed out the door and was now sitting a on a slab of stone. Aerith held the PHS up to her ear and asked into it uncertainly, "Cloud? Cloud? Are you there?"

"Huh?" a confused voice said. Aerith could hear someone that sounded like Riku asking Cloud if it was his phone. Cloud picked it up, muttering, "Damn, keep forgetting they're still connected!" Aerith rolled her eyes, laughing to herself. "Hello?"

"Hi Cloud!" Aerith greeted cheerfully.

"Oh it's you Aerith, hi-so um…why are you using Tifa's PHS again?" Cloud asked, his voice sounding surprised from hearing Aerith on the other end.

"Cause I stole it from her. So why'd you hang up on us?" Aerith asked, her green eyes flashing as she spoke to Cloud. She looked in the broken window of Merlin's house and noticed Tifa and a few others were watching her. She sighed and stood up and walked on down to the Market Place, not realizing Axel was down there with Demyx-who was just about to run past her.

"Sephiroth came up and-" Cloud began, but was interrupted by a scream of Aerith. He heard her intake a breath before she grunted. "Aerith?"

Aerith glared at the teen-or someone around twenty-who had just ran into her. He looked down at her, his blue eyes widening. "Oh, I'm sorry!" he said rather quickly as he bent down clumsily and offered his hand to her. (in marriage! Nah! I'm just kidding-lol)

"That's alright," Aeris responded lightly, dipping her head, showing she forgave him. 'He's cute…' Aeris thought, staring into the boy's face she was hardly aware that she had shut the PHS and disconnected the link with Cloud.

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Demyx stared at the woman, truly sorry, but he could not stop staring. 'She's hot," he thought. 9heh-heh-I'm going to be evil!) Demyx noticed that deep shade of red appearing on the young woman's face realized with horror that he had just said that aloud! "Oh…um…uh…opps-th-that wasn't supposed to come out," he said modestly.

&&&

Riku noticed Cloud was staring at the phone with utter horror and wondered what had just happened. He sighed and rolled his eyes as Aurithia grabbed him by the arm and began dragging him towards the place where he used to live. At first he wondered why she was taking him there, that is until he saw Sora following, a grim look on his face. His wonders about where they were going suddenly changed. Why did Sora look so grim? Well despite the fact that the very Keyblade they had all believed to be destroyed was back-and in the very person who had given into the darkness a few years back, was wielding.

Tidus, meanwhile, had vanished to Riku's relief. In truth, he thought Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie as very immature, but mainly Tidus. Sora seemed just about as immature as Tidus-and Kairi, well she was just Kairi to him; she was rather immature, but not as much as everyone else.

Within moments, Riku found himself standing in front of his old house. It seemed abandoned. Where had his parents gone? "Er…Aurithia, why are we here?"

"Because Riku, this is where we find what we are looking for." Aurithia replied simply, her blue eyes scanning the area as if searching for something before she walked up to the door.

"What do you mean? What are we looking for?" Riku demanded, paying no attention to the sulking Cloud, who seemed to be dragging his feet and muttering under his breath, something about Aerith. Sora, he also ignored, who was now looking at the house with confusion. Kairi was being Kairi and jumped up in front of Aurithia, "Yeah, Aurithia! What're we looking for?"

"We are seek something that cannot be sought." Aurithia replied simply. They watched as she opened the door and step inside. Riku found himself running after her and stepping into his house. When he entered it, he found that everything was the same way he had left it. Yeah, he was old enough to move out-but his parents wouldn't allow it for some unknown reason. Riku looked around the dusty room, seeing no sign of life. All the furniture was still there and everything.

He walked through the house, walking right past Aurithia. "How are we supposed to find something that can't be found?" he asked her quietly, and walked into the hallway towards his room. Something was pulling him there, telling him that there was something there waiting for him.

"You will understand in due time, Riku, but for now, you must find our new ally or our new enemy."

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Sora, who was outside with Kairi and the sulking Cloud, was the first to spot the swim suit model running towards him. (omg! My eyes!-you can guess who this is!) She looked rather upset about something. Sora walked up to her, his eyes shining as he stared at her, "Hello, um…what's wrong?"

"Oh nothing!" the model said, her blue gaze flashing. She seemed rather angry, but Sora didn't notice. "Just wondering if you…"

"If I what?"

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Riku entered his room and was surprised to find two people standing there. One wielded a weapon-er weapons, another didn't have one. He knew who they were. His aqua blue-green eyes flashed and his Keyblade appeared in his right hand-his Dark Keyblade. I his left, his Way to Dawn appeared. Both of the two were smirking in front of him. "What are you doing here?" he snarled, raising his blades, ready to attack.

Aurithia appeared beside him, her blue eyes cold and stone hard. "You cannot interfere with destiny!" she growled, her voice dark.

Zexion remained emotionless; Xigbar however, grinned, "We'll see about that," and raised one of his guns, ready to shoot Riku.

Riku, meanwhile was looking at Aurithia, surprised at her angry words. All at once a beam of red shot past him and he jumped. Riku spun to look back at Xigbar and rushed forward. He grunted as he struck out at Xigbar and Zexion. Zexion leapt nimbly aside, his expression not changing. Riku growled, swinging at Zexion with his Dark Keyblade and at Xigbar with his Way to Dawn. Xigbar shot at him and one bullet barley missed Riku by an inch, but the dark warrior, reflected two bullets and hit Xigbar. Zexion, however, had something in his hand. Riku didn't realize what it was until he had been hit by it. Pain laced through his shoulder and back. He spun around, his eyes blazing as he saw a leather whip in Zexion's hand, glowing a light silver-blue.

Aurithia had drawn her sword and had leapt into the battle at last and was attacking Xigbar with all she had. Riku gripped his Keyblade tighter, willing it to vanish. He felt the weight in his hand vanish and he switched the Way to Dawn to his right hand. He braced himself for Zexion's next strike, but it never came.

In a flash, both men had vanished. Riku blinked, looking around, "Where did they go?" he asked Aurithia, turning to look at the woman who had a bloody sword, a twisted grin on her face. "Aurithia?" Riku asked, staring at her.

Aurithia seemed to shake her head and turn to face Riku, the strange look vanishing from her eyes. She smiled lightly at him and said quietly, "I got him,"

"I can see that," Riku commented, glancing at the blood on Aurithia's blade. She quickly whipped it away and asked, "How is your shoulder?"

Riku remembered the place where Zexion had hit him with the whip. He looked down at it and found that the sleeve was torn on his cloak and revealing blood trailing down his skin. In the excitement of the battle, Riku had forgotten his pain like he did every time, but now that it was over, he felt the pain and reached to touch the wound absentmindedly. He flinched as his fingers touched the gashed shoulder. "I think I'll be fine," he told Aurithia, knowing that the wound would heal. He didn't need help.

&&&

Cloud sulked, not paying any attention to Sora, Kairi, or the other girl. Why had Aeris hung up on him saying, "He's cute,"? W-Was she in love with someone else? His closed his eyes, praying that she was not. Yes, as we all know, Cloud was in love with Aeris and she knew he was. Maybe he should go back and drag her along with him. 'No…that would only send her to her death.'

"Cloud!" a voice suddenly yelled. Cloud opened his eyes and looked up to see Rufus walking swiftly towards him. Cloud didn't say anything as Rufus began to speak, "I'm going over to Hollow Bastion to go pick up a friend of yours that just called, do you want to come?"

Cloud glared daggers at Rufus as he replied bitterly, "No," His tone was icy and heartless. Rufus stared at Cloud for a few seconds and shrugged, "Suit yourself," and left.

&&&

Vincent glared at the door as it opened. His eyes narrowed as Aeris walked in, dragging a teenager or someone in their very early twenties into Merlin's house. He didn't know who the teen was, so at first he ignored him until Tifa, Yuffie, Merlin, and Leon jumped up, all drawing their weapons. "Aeris! Why did you bring Demyx here?" Tifa gasped loudly, raising her fists up.

Vincent turned to look at Aeris with narrowed crimson eyes. Aeris grinned sheepishly as she responded, "Cause," He blinked at her careless answer. Vincent had long-since gotten over the fact that Aeris was alive and Cloud's girlfriend. Now that he looked at the teen Aeris was dragging in, he assumed she was dumping him. He noticed Tifa's PHS in her free hand. It was closed-she had hung up on Cloud.

'**_Stupid girl, how could she fall in love with the enemy? Heh-such a stupid, stupid girl!'_** Chaos mused within Vincent's mind. Vincent's eyes hardened at Chaos's comment, but he said nothing back to the Weapon. Instead, he spoke what Chaos had said-actually agreeing with him for once, "Aeris, are you that naïve? You can't just go around with a little crush on your enemies."

Aeris turned to look at him, her face turning a light shade of pink. "I-I don't have a crush on him! He's just looking for a place to stay! He's different now, right Demyx?" Aeris said, her voice cracked. Demyx shook his head, obviously very frightened.

Vincent narrowed his eyes. He stood up straight from where he was leaning against the wall and strode over to Aeris. He stood in front of her, staring her in the eyes. He noticed that she shuttered under his bloody gaze. "Is that so? Then why, if I may ask, do you sound so nervous?"

'**_Heh, she such a stupid girl. Libel to get her throat slit open in her sleep. What a funny sight that would be!'_** Vincent was now ignoring Chaos completely.

Aeris, he noticed, turned away from him and responded, "Um…uh…"

"That's what I thought," Vincent sighed, shaking his head. Then he looked up at Tifa. "Is this Demyx guy dangerous? He doesn't look it, nor do I sense any strength in him-but if he is an enemy, I must know."

"Er…no, he's not exactly dangerous. The worst he could do is mess up your hair with his water. Oh and he had a guitar."

"It's a-!" Demyx objected, but Vincent did allow him to finish as he spun around, narrowing his eyes at the teen who was at least a foot shorter than him. "Keep your mouth shut!"

Just as Tifa was about to continue, the sound of a helicopter was heard. Vincent blinked and then turned away from everyone without speaking. He was about to walk out the door when Tifa snapped, "Where are you going?" Her voice was stern and demanding. Vincent sighed. It wasn't like he had anything to do here-he could help with rebuilding the place, but that just wasn't his thing.

"Somewhere that's not important," he replied simply and then walked out the door-which Merlin had fixed. Vincent made his way over to where the helicopter had landed. He walked over to it, ignoring the pilot-Reno, and the person sitting beside Reno-Rufus. He sat in the back of the helicopter and waited for it to take off.

"Hey, Vincent! Long time no see, eh?" Reno yelled over the helicopter. He looked back at Vincent, who only glared at him with utter rage. "Whoa-you still aren't all that friendly are you?"

"What do you expect?" Rufus said, his voice cheerful and relaxed, "He was after all-once a Turk like yourself-much better though! Heh-heh, the leader of the Turks-unlike you. All you ever do is drink and try to find a woman who will go on a date with you!" (idiots…)

"Can you just take me to Cloud, and those other four already?" Vincent growled. "I have to talk to Cloud about something."

Reno sighed and began to pilot the helicopter, making it rise off the ground. Rufus turned around in his seat and yelled, "About what, Vincent?"

"**_Vinnie!!_**"

Vincent jumped at the sound of the voice. He looked out the window and saw Yuffie standing there, waving her arms. "**_Get back here and take me with you!_**" she yelled.

Vincent was about to reply, "No," but Reno suddenly swung the copper downwards and landed it again. Vincent glared at him but did not speak. Yuffie, however, leapt up in joy and raced over to the copper and jumped in, climbing into the back with Vincent. The first person she noticed besides Vincent, was Rufus.

"Hey Rufy!" Rufus flinched at the nickname. "How'd you like the sun screen all over your face?" she asked, her eyes bright with amusement.

"What? You had sun screen all over your face?" Reno choked, understanding Yuffie's meaning.

"Don't say anything Reno, or I'll kick you out of this chopper right now if I have too!" Rufus growled.

"Okay…Hey Yuffie, will you go on a date with me?" Reno suddenly asked, turning to look at the teen behind him. He was met by non-other than-no, it wasn't Yuffie's hand-but Vincent's fist. It wasn't his metal arm, thankfully, otherwise Reno would most likely be dead from the crushing oh his skull around his nose.

"Thanks, Vinnie! I was going to slap him, but you did much better!" Yuffie said, beaming at him. Reno, meanwhile, had tears in his eyes, but he wasn't crying, his eyes were just watering from the pain. Blood poured onto his Turk suit and he groaned.

"Ow…Vincent that hurt…Rufus, where's that dam Cure 2 at?" Reno demanded, turning to look at his boss, who glared at him. Rufus sighed and reached into his pocket and gave Reno the Cure 2 materia. Reno, expertly steered the helicopter with one hand and half blind from the pain.

Vincent was surprised that Reno could actually do that, but he shrugged it off, reminding himself that Reno was the best pilot in all of ShinRa. Yuffie was staring at the materia with large eyes, her fingers slowly moving towards it. "Not now, Yuffie," Vincent growled, noticing what she was doing.

Yuffie turned to look at him grinning sheepishly. She sat back, disappointment shining in her eyes. "Sorry, Vinnie,"

Vincent flinched once again at the nickname. How long was she planning to keep calling him that? He hoped not for long. He _hated_ the nickname. '**_Heh-heh, found something to annoy you with, Vinnie.'_** Vincent glared at the wall, hearing Chaos talking to him. He didn't know Chaos had a sense of humor…strange-oh well, everything about Chaos was strange. Down to his creepy zombie-type appearance to his tattered and torn wings.

"Hey Vinnie, where are we going?" Yuffie asked after a moment of silence.

Vincent turned his crimson gaze on her and responded, "To Destiny Island. And please, with all due respect, stop calling me Vinnie." Yuffie looked a little surprised at how Vincent had worded that sentence, but she shrugged and then grinned. Vincent glared at her as she mouthed the words, 'Okay…Vinnie.'

"Hey, Vincent!" Rufus suddenly yelled. "You never told me what you needed to talk to Cloud about!"

"That's none of your business, Rufus!" Vincent snapped, his eyes flashing. "And it's not all that important, I'm only warning him about something."

Vincent held up his metal arm, flexing the claws on it, a devilish look appearing in his eyes as he stared at the claws. He quickly hide the golden, metal arm from his sight and looked over at Yuffie who was watching him with a close eye. He almost asked her what she was looking at, but he stopped himself and shut his eyes, leaning back in his chair, but he did not sleep. Sleep only brought him nightmares, renewing the sins he had committed.

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Yuffie looked over at Vincent, wondering why he had looked at his metal arm. She knew enough about him to know that he despised that arm. She looked at him now, wondering if he was sleeping. 'No, Yuffie, he doesn't sleep, remember?'

(Okay! There's you guys the Ninth Chapter of A Shadowed Heart with half of it about Vinnie! Opps…I forgot he doesn't like that…well anyway, I love YXV(Yuffietines) so if you guys know any really good ones that are rated K+-T then can you tell me about them. And if any of you are going to say 'Destined Souls'-I already read it, but that's like the only one besides some really short ones oh and there is 'Sink to the Bottom With You'. If they're complete and long-I'd love to read them! And if they're not-I'd still love to read them! Poor Cloud! He got cheated on-heh-I'm evil)

(Hi! Guys, I apologize for the long wait and I hope you forgive me. Today I was working on Dawn Til Twilight (A Story about Riku) and I thought 'Heck, everybody's mad at me for not updating, so why not update? And so here I am. Yes, Chapter Ten is nearly done-HALIUJAH! And so it will be updated soon, very, very soon. I hope you guys are still willing to read this. Thanks.)


	10. The Bloody Masamune

Chapter Ten: Bloody Masamune

Sephiroth glared at the room as he entered it. It was all _blue_ and _wet-looking_! He did not like that. He'd have to fix the room up-but where was he supposed to get any black paint? 'Oh yeah, Vexen has paint,' Sephiroth reminded himself-Vexen had everything-except his Masamune! He walked out of Demyx's old room and headed towards Vexen's.

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When the helicopter landed, Vincent opened his bloody red eyes and looked around him. They were on a beach, right next to the ocean. He also noticed that they had landed right in front of someone's house. Cloud was outside the house, sulking. Yuffie leapt to her feet and without waiting for the others to get out, jumped out of the helicopter. Rufus growled as he was pushed back, but he jumped out after her. Reno got out and then Vincent did.

As Vincent hit the sand, he looked for Yuffie and found her jumping around a surprised Cloud. He sighed and walked swiftly over to Cloud. Yuffie, noticing Vincent coming, calmed down at once at the angry look in his eyes. Rufus and Reno watched on in silence, wondering what was going to happen. Cloud looked over at Vincent, surprise crossing his face. Vincent ignored it and grabbed Cloud by his shirt, forcing him to look him in the eye.

"V-Vincent?" Cloud asked, staring at Vincent with horror.

Sora and Kairi turned to look at Cloud and saw Vincent. Kairi at the moment, was looking rather mad, and Sora, a little down. The swim suit lady had vanished and Kairi was very mad with Sora. Their eyes filled with horror at the sight.

"Cloud," Vincent began, his voice dark. "Do you enjoy stealing others appearances? Mine perhaps? You even _took_ a fake metal arm and put it on yours! Why? Why did you do that? To mock me?"

Cloud blinked, not expecting Vincent to get so worked up over the whole 'I-took-your-look' thing. It wasn't a big deal to him, but obviously Vincent found it very insulting. "N-No!" he said, his eyes wide.

Vincent continued to glare at him with cold, bloody eyes that seemed to tear into Cloud's consciousness, sending vibrations of fear through his whole body. "I doubt that; if that was not you reason, what was?"

Cloud continued to stare at Cloud and then answered quietly, "It looked really cool…" That sounded so lame. Vincent released Cloud and spun around, his eyes flashing. Cloud swore he heard Vincent mutter something along the lines of: "Cool, damn jackass…nothing's cool about a monster."

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"Okay Aeris. If you seem to have somehow fallen 'in love' with Demyx, that means you get to tell Cloud first-hand." Tifa growled, glaring at the flower girl with Cetra blood in her veins.

Aeris gulped, staring at Tifa with wide eyes, "Y-You mean face-to-face? B-But that would break his heart!" she protested.

"I think you already did that," Barret muttered from somewhere across the room. Tifa shot him a menacing glare, but she did not speak as she brought her eyes back down on the cowering Aeris.

"Demyx! I thought I told you to get your ass out of Hollow Bastion or I would personally kill you myself!" a voice suddenly roared, shattering the already tensed silence around them.

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Sephiroth growled, his Mako green eyes flashing as he grabbed the bucket of paint from Vexen. He was tempted to take his Masamune out and just kill the man where he stood, but he resisted it. He knew his eye was twitching with anger as he strode down the hallways, trying to keep as much distance from Vexen as possible. The damned scientist-like…creature, had gone up to him at once and asked, "Why do you have glowing eyes like that? Why do you have a wing? Why do you carry a thirteen foot long sword around? What made you become a murderer? Are you really Cloud's darkside? Is it true you tricked Marluxia into killing Xemnas's secretary? Why do you like black? Are you gothic? How come you died like-what three times? And came back to life? Hm? Hm? Hm? Huh?" (Vexen sure does talk too much…)

Too many questions for Sephiroth. He had quickly silenced the curious Nobody by punching him in the face and growling, "Shut up you jackass or you'll find out –_how I use my thirteen foot sword!_"

Then he had stalked off carrying the paint can and was almost to his room. When Sephiroth entered his room, he saw the black paint can down and grabbed the paint brush off the top of the lid. He hated painting. Maybe he should get someone else to do it. A grin suddenly spread across his face. _He could get someone to do it for him! 'Alright Xemnas, you're too damn lazy, time to paint my room!'_

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"Are you sure this is the data you got off of the Restoration Committee?" Xemnas asked, his voice dull as he looked over the screen on his computer, and then at the man standing beside him. Saix nodded slowly, his cold blue eyes switching to his boss for an instant before returning to the screen. "Well, if you're so sure, why does it sound like some girl's crazy dairy?"

Saix's lips twitched upwards into a small smile as he replied, his voice emotionless, "Maybe because it is a girl's dairy. This must belong to that stupid ninja girl…"

"Can I read?" a voice suddenly asked from behind the two men. Xemnas and Saix jumped and spun around to see someone they thought they'd never see. The person wasn't exactly able to be seen, but both knew who it was. The figure who a brown cloak and a hood covered his face. A dark aura seemed to surround him.

"A-Ansem? Why do you have any interest in a silly girl's dairy?" Saix asked, stuttering over his words. Xemnas just remained quiet, continuing to stare at the cloaked man.

"Are you really Ansem? Are you my Other?" Xemnas asked.

The cloak figure nodded, "I am he; if you are wondering why I came here, it was for certain reasons of my own. Now let me read some of the girl's dairy. It might help me if it's not all senseless babble of a teenager."

Xemnas and Saix moved aside with hesitation as Ansem moved forward. He seemed to be peering at the computer as his eyes scanned the typed text before his eyes.

_**So…today was SO BORING!! I mean, all Cloud and Leon do is sulk and stand there like stupid statues. Dumb Cid is always too busy smoking his cigarette to even try to have a conversation with. Aeris, she was okay but she seems a little too…perky…And Tifa, well I won't even go there! All she ever does is stare at Cloud like nothing else existed! **_

_**Sometimes I am forced to ask myself-why did I bother coming here again? Oh well…I miss Vinnie, Red XIII, and Barret. Maybe I should take a vacation back there! Yeah! Oh hey-OH MY GOSH!! Squall actually moved! GASP! And what's worse is that-WOW!! I didn't know he could actually walk out the door, taking out a letter from his pocket-AND READ IT!! Okay, gotta check this out, somethin's up with the statue emo guy!**_

_**----**_

_**You are never going to believe this!! Squall was actually LAUGHING! I know-scaring isn't it? Boy, if only Sora had been here to see this! He bet he would've fainted!! I mean, I can get Cloud to laugh or smile sometimes, but if you get Squall to do that-you actually did something! I wonder what that letter said that made him laugh…Well maybe I should go check it out…**_

_**---**_

_**The letter was from that idiot Rinoa girl-Squall's girlfriend. Argh! I haven't even met the stupid woman and already I despise her! Maybe it's because I like Squall and yet Squall HATES me…Maybe I should consider that vacation after all…**_

_**----**_

Ansem moved downwards until he got to the closest date where the dairy ended at.

---

_**YAY! Sora and Riku have returned! Hooray! Oh and-guess what, a few days ago, I got a letter from Red-he said they were coming over! YAY! Ah well…guess that ends my vacation-oh well! Least I get to see Mr. I-Must-Atone-For-My-Sins-So-Leave-Me-Alone-Because-You'll-Only-Add-To-My-Sins-If-I-Hang-Around-You Valentine!! Otherwise known as Vinnie "Vincent" Valentine. Actually it goes Vincent "Vinnie" Valentine-but what do I care. I call him Vinnie and that's that! **_

_**I haven't told Squall "Leon", Cloud, Aeris, or Cid yet. That might get me in trouble if they knew because to everyone BUT Cloud and Cid, Aeris is dead. Poor Aeris. Oh and did I mention Sephiroth?! Yeah! He's a little sneaky BA!!! Cloud ran off just a couple days ago, just before Sora, Riku, and Kairi got here! Oh well…we have problems stirring up around here-guess I'd better get off here before I get in trouble by Cid again for fiddling with HIS computer-as he calls it!**_

Ansem growled, "Useless, her entries cut off here. Not what I needed," Suddenly the cloaked man spun around to stare at Xemnas and Saix. Orange eyes glittered from the darkness under the hood. "Where is Riku? Sora? Kairi?"

Xemnas stared at Ansem, but then spoke hesitantly, "At Destiny Island, Zexion and Xaldin, and Xigbar, oh and Larexen, are out there now."

"Xemnas!" a loud voice suddenly growled from behind them. Everyone spun around to see a dark figure walking towards them. They could see glowing green eyes and a black wing fluttering slightly. "Go paint my room,"

"Sephiroth, Xemnas isn't going to paint your room!" Marluxia snapped, staring at the one-winged-angel in confusion. Ansem remained silent as he watched the scene.

To everyone's surprise-except for Sephiroth-Xemnas nodded and began walking towards Sephiroth and the door as if nothing were wrong. Marluxia, of course, knew that Sephiroth could control people's minds. He could see Sephiroth smirking as Xemnas left the room. "As you were saying?" Sephiroth asked, the amusement shining in his voice.

&&&

Sephiroth turned away from everyone after speaking and as he left the darkened room, he vanished on spot. His hand was on his Masamune. Sephiroth had some work of his own to do. When Sephiroth appeared where he was supposed to, his green eyes looked around his surroundings. He knew one of his newest enemies were here, though he did not exactly know where, seeing as they had never met. His senses told him, though, that a dangerous presence was close by.

The streets of Traverse Town were practically empty, except for one black cloaked person leaning on a shadowed wall quiet a few meters off. Sephiroth grinned, "There you are," he drew his thirteen-foot blade and approached the figure.

"I assume you are the one I am looking for? You are Sephiroth?" a quite voice asked him. Sephiroth realized that the person was a female. That didn't stop him as he nodded. "How did you know you were supposed to meet me here?" she asked.

Sephiroth looked at the hooded girl with narrowed eyes. A smirk played on his face, "Of course I knew I was to meet you here, I am not naive like that King of yours,"

The girl seemed to stiffen, but she relaxed and stood up straight. Sephiroth watched as she lifted her gloved hands and removed the hood covering her face. Silver hair spilled from behind her. Silver-blue eyes glinted dangerously. An evil smile played on her lips. Her pale skin shone in the street lamp light. At first Sephiroth did not move at the beauty of the young woman, but then he snapped out of it, gripping his Masamune all the more tighter.

"You do not disrespect the King to my face, warrior, or you will pay dearly," the young woman spoke with a dangerous and low voice that was calm and steadied. She moved with grace as she stepped up to him, holding out her right hand.

Sephiroth eyed her, ready for anything, or so he thought. The woman, who had such a pale and perfect appearance, suddenly seemed to darken, becoming shadowed. Her right hand erupted in waves of black energy. Sephiroth stared in utter confusion as the black energy began to take shape. At first he could not make out what it was forming, but then he realized with shock, that a dark blade was morphing in her hands.

A Dark Blade… It was a blade made out of pure evil and darkness, making it extremely fast and able to wield by only those whose hearts are dark. Sephiroth felt a little confused at why the woman was working with King Mickey, but he pushed the thought aside, still shocked at the sight of the blade. Not one of them had been seen in over two century. "You wield a Dark Blade-a legendary sword and yet you work for the Light?" Sephiroth growled, though he was unable to hide the disbelief. "What is your name?" 

The woman gave him a look, a small smile on her lips as she replied softly, "It is Lerane…do not forget it, dark warrior," she said slowly, and then, before Sephiroth could really figure out what was going on, she lunged at him.

The Dark Blade slashed through the air, barley missing him. He leapt away, gripping the Masamune as he pinpointed where he should strike the surprisingly fast and powerful woman. It came to him just as she lunged again. Expertly, he struck out, slashing her shoulder, but to Sephiroth's shock, missed entirely. Lerane landed beside him, their eyes locking. A grin was on her face. "Surprised?" she mocked, "Well I'm not. But I must say, you are a very good swordsman, and now I must make my leave,"

Sephiroth stood, as if frozen as a dark portal leapt in front of Lerane and she vanished within its depths. At once, the portal vanished and closed. He glared at it, suddenly feeling angry at himself. He had let her get away! Clenching his fists, he glanced down at his forever-faithful blade, the Masamune. For once, not a drop of blood had been shed by the blade.


End file.
